Rogue
by DarkUnderworld
Summary: Raph's temper snaps & he injures Leo.Angry words are exchanged as he storms from the lair.Are Leo's hurtful angry words the last he ever speaks to his brother?The purple dragons claim to have killed Raph. So who is Rogue?He'd like to know too. Raph/Leo/OC
1. Chapter 1

**Hello all. So this is my first attempt at a 'T' rated fic since my other ones have been 'M'. Also it is my first non-supernatural/fantasy turtle fic. I kinda wanted to write a simple story. So I hope everyone enjoys!**

** A/N don't own the turtles only the OC's**

**(Set after the Ninja tribunal, sorta-ish )**

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><p><span>Chapter 1<span>

**Raphael** glared at his older brother. "I'm going out Leo." He growled as his brother blocked his way.

"No you aren't Raphael. There has been too much Purple Dragon activity for you to risk going out by yourself." His brother said reasonably.

Raphael's temper flared. "I'm sick of bein' cooped up in here Leo! The Shredder is gone, we have a truce with Karai, the only ones we have to worry about are the gangs, Agent Bishop and Baxter Stockman, now get outta my way before I make you." He threatened.

"I'd like to see you try Raph." His brother smirked at him. That just pissed him off even more.

"You can't order me around Leo. You aren't my father." He growled angrily.

Leonardo got a pinched looked around his eyes which made him momentarily regret his words, but his regret was short lived. "No, but Master Splinter left me in charge when he passed away. That means you listen to me Raph and I say to stay here." His brother said to him angrily.

"You think you're so great don't you Leo. You think that just because Master Splinter left you in charge that you get to boss us around like you did when we were teenagers. Well I ain't a teenager anymore Leo. I'm 26 years old and I refuse to let you keep treatin me like I'm a kid, so move it!" He roared.

"No." His brother said in refusal.

"Fine." He said as he lashed a kick out at his brother.

Leonardo easily blocked it which pushed him over the edge. He pulled his sais from his belt as his brother drew his katanas. He leapt at his brother lashing out with his sais. His brother easily blocked his attack with his katana blades. He tried to push his brother using his superior strength, but his brother just moved out of the way causing him to stumble. His brother kicked him in the side causing him to hit the floor. Red rage filled his vision as his brother smirked at him.

"You'll never beat me Raph if you don't learn to control your temper." His brother said to him, but he couldn't hear or understand his brother anymore. He was consumed by a rage that had festered and was so deep it was almost a hatred. No, not hatred, he could never hate his brother, it was jealousy mixed with grief for his lost father whose death two years ago had left a hole in his heart that he was incapable of dealing with.

"Aaarrrggghhhh!" He yelled at his brother as he picked himself off the floor. Fists flew and kicks were given as he attacked his brother with a fury that was as violent as it was all consuming. He wanted to hurt his brother as badly as he hurt inside. His fist finally connected with his' brother's jaw. Leonardo hit the wall behind him hard and slid to the ground in a semi-conscious daze. He lunged at his defenceless brother, his sais in his hand, their pointed tips closing in on Leonardo's vulnerable throat.

One sai slid past just missing his brother's throat, but nicking it, leaving a small scratch that was deep enough to draw blood. Leonardo looked blearily still dazed from the blow to his jaw. Horror at what he had almost done coursed through him. His brother shook his head as if to clear it. His brother touched his injured neck, his fingers coming away bloody. His brother looked at the blood.

"Leo...I...I" He stammered in shock and horror.

His brother focused on him. His words were biting, harsh, and angry. "If you want to leave so badly Raph, leave! You get yourself in trouble or you get yourself killed, that's your problem, not mine. I am done with you." He said as he pushed himself up from the floor.

"That's fine!' He yelled at his brother's retreating back, his anger surging strongly to cover up his fear and revulsion at what he had almost done. "I've been done with you for years Leo!" He strode angrily into the garage area where they kept their vehicles. Donatello was working on something but he ignored his brother's question if he was okay. _No he damn well wasn't okay_. Regret washed through him. He hopped on his bike, put his helmet on and kick started his bike. It roared to life beneath him.

The wheel's screeched as he punched the accelerator. He rode through the tunnels and out into the dark New York City night.

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><p><strong>Donatello<strong> watched as Raphael's bike roared out of the lair. He looked as Michelangelo strode up a worried expression on his face. "What happened Mikey?" He asked his brother.

"The two hot heads got into it." Michelangelo said as he shook his head in frustration.

"So, same old same old?" He asked turning his attention back to the toaster he was fixing. Michelangelo remained silent. Donatello frowned and looked at his baby brother who was wearing a look of deep concern. "What happened Mikey?" He asked his brother softly.

"Raph beat Leo up. I think Raph got Leo's throat with his sai." He said softly.

Donatello's eye ridges rose in suprise and concern as he stopped what he was doing. "Is he okay?" He asked as he stood and took two steps towards the door, but Michelangelo stopped him.

"He's fine, it just needed a band-aid, but their fight was really bad Donny. They both said really awful things. I don't know if Raph is going to be coming back." The worry in his brother's voice made his voice crack slightly.

"He'll be back Mikey. You know Raph, he just needs to let off some steam." Donatello said putting on a brave face for his brother even though worry clawed at his gut.

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><p><strong>Raphael<strong> had been driving around for 3 hours and was ready to go back to the lair. The problem was he didn't know if he actually _could_ go back. Guilt still rode through him at what he had done to his brother, and if he were honest with himself, he was still hurting from his brother's harsh words. He and Leonardo fought a lot, but this time felt different. This time he felt as if his brother's parting words to him had actually come straight from his heart.

Raphael didn't want to think that Leonardo had actually kicked him out of the only home he had ever known. He didn't like to think that his brother hated him so much that he no longer wanted anything to do with him. Though after what he had done, he wouldn't blame his brother one bit. He knew that he shouldn't have attacked Leonardo the way he had, but Leonardo had to get the stick out of his ass and quit trying to be their father.

_But if Leonardo had really kicked him out, where would he go? _He wondered. He supposed he could crash with April and Casey for a bit, but if Leonardo told April what he had done April may not let him stay, and Casey would not be able to convince April that letting him stay with them would be a good idea. And besides they were married, they needed their privacy. And even if they did let him stay crashing for a night was different than actually moving in and staying. So if Leo had kicked him out he was essentially homeless. This thought filled him with more dread than he thought possible. His brothers had always been there. All they really had was each other. The thought that he wouldn't be able to rely on them, that he would be alone for the first time in his life was frightening.

Raphael's bike was suddenly hit from behind. He looked over his shoulder and grimaced. He punched the accelerator to try to lose the Purple Dragons that were tailing him in a grey armoured truck. The truck sped up trying for him again. He veered off into an alley his attention focused on the truck behind him. The truck was unable to take the sharp turn leaving it to skid to a stop and try to reverse.

Raphael smiled grimly as he turned his attention to the alley he had ducked into. "Shit!" He swore as the wall in front of him was illuminated in his headlights. He pulled on the brakes trying to stop himself but he lost control of his bike. The bike skidded and he managed to leap clear before his bike crashed into the wall.

"Damn it." He swore as he managed to get to his feet. His foot buckled beneath him. The truck had reversed and was now making a beeline for him. He looked around him and used a dumpster to give himself a boost so that he was able to leap up to grab the fire escape above him. He winced in pain. He had landed wrong and he had hurt his wrist as well as his ankle. He wasn't sure if either was broken, but they hurt like hell.

The truck screeched to a halt and four Purple Dragon goons leapt out of the back while the truck reversed out of the alley and blocked the entrance. He looked at his trashed bike buried under a pile of cardboard boxes. There was no way that he would be able to ride it home anyway.

"Donny's going to be pissed." He grumbled to himself as he began making his way to the roof, the Purple Dragons following on his heels.

He fumbled with his good hand for the cell phone that was in his jeans. He managed to pull the broken hunk of technology from his pocket. Swearing he tossed it down the fire escape beaning one of the pursuing Dragons in the head. He smiled through his helmet and continued to the roof of the four story apartment complex.

He climbed to the roof and began prying away the bolts holding the fire escape to the building with his sai. There was an ominous creaking sound as the fire escape pulled partially away from the building to teeter at an angle. The four Purple Dragons climbing up screamed as they held on for dear life.

He could see the truck the Purple Dragons had driven in pull away from the alley entrance. He laughed, turned around and stopped dead. Seven Purple Dragons awaited him on the roof. He looked around but didn't see Hun.

"You want to go, fine, let's go!" He smiled as he clenched his sai tightly. Two of the thugs were armed with bats, another two with chains, one had a piece of wood with a few nails sticking out, and the other two each held a foot long pipe in their hands. He could hear the four Purple Dragons on the shouting at one another. They had managed to get off of the useless fire escape and had spotted another way to the roof. The ones presently on the roof came at him all at once. He frowned. He lashed out a kick as one of the pipes caught his helmet. He heard the crack as the helmet's outer shell split.

He stumbled, wincing in pain as his ankle threatened to give way again as another pipe wielding Dragon caught him on the side of his carapace doing little damage. A bat caught him in the chest and even his plastron was not enough protection against the force of the bat pushing the air from his lungs.

He tried to suck in a much needed breath as a bat caught him in the arm. He managed to dodge the blow for the most part, but it still hurt enough that his left arm felt as if it had gone numb.

Punch after punch, blow after blow he tried to land on his enemies but for every blow landed four more would strike him.

He was becoming disoriented and pain was beginning to cloud his senses. A pipe caught him in the helmet again as a heavy boot caught him in the chest. He felt himself stumble back and trip as his ankle gave out. He fell backwards but he did not strike ground. He had a moment's realization that he was falling, and that he was going to die alone, beaten to death by Purple Dragons, before his head smashed into something metallic and unforgiving. Blackness clawed at him and dragged him down into nothingness.

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><p>The young Purple Dragon looked over the side of the building.<p>

"Go check and see if the freak is dead." His lieutenant ordered him.

"But the fire escape is broken." He protested.

"Go down the back way. Use the fire escape on the adjoining building." His lieutenant growled back.

"That'll take a bit, sure he's still going to be there?" He wondered

"Just check and see if he's dead." His lieutenant said in frustration.

"What if he isn't dead?" He asked.

"Then kill him." The older voice said bluntly.


	2. Chapter 2

**Anyone who has read my other fics with recognize my OC Katherine.=)**

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><p><span>Chapter 2<span>

**Katherine** looked at her map and frowned. She was trying to drive and look at the map at the same time, but it wasn't working, especially not in New York traffic. She threw the map down in disgust. "Now is the time I need a GPS unit." She grumbled to herself. She looked around. She spotted an intersection sign proclaiming it to be 73rd and Broadway. She turned right and hung another right pulling into a darkened alley. She looked at the garbage truck in front of her. It's mechanized arms were lifting a dumpster up, it's orange spinning lights casting a depressing orange glow onto the dirty brick walls and ground of the alley.

She got out of her SUV hoping that maybe the garbage truck operator could give her an idea of how to get out of Manhattan and out of New York altogether. She watched as the garbage began spilling out in black shapeless heaps into the top of the truck along with other mounds of assorted refuse.

She frowned as she noticed something, something that looked like an arm flopping out from around the black garbage bags that seemed to dominate the dumpster's contents.

She ran shouting out to the operator. A dark haired, skinny man in his 40's looked at her as if she were crazy as she leapt up on the truck's steps.

"There's a body!" She yelled as the operator looked at her in shock. He shut down the machine and lowered the dumpster back to the ground.

"Shit, you've got to be joking me." He said as he opened his door and got out. "You sure?" He asked.

"I saw an arm." She said with a horrified voice.

He climbed up on the edge of the dumpster and Katherine joined him. "There." She said as she pointed to a lump partially buried by garbage bags.

"Well I ain't touchin' nothin'. I gotta call this in." He said with a shake of his head.

"But what if whoever it is, is still alive?" She asked as she grabbed at the jacket the person was wearing.

"Could be a drunk, or homeless." The garbage truck operator acknowledged with a nod.

He helped her heave the body out of the dumpster, it was a man. He was wearing a beaten up, black jacket, jeans and a badly cracked full face motorcycle helmet.

"Not a drunk." The operator sighed. "Great, now I'm never getting home tonight." He grumbled.

"He's still alive." She said as she watched the rise and fall of the man's chest.

"No shit." The operator said in surprise.

Katherine leaned in and took off the helmet. She looked at a face that wasn't human.

"What the hell is that!" The operator said as he took a couple steps back in horror.

Katharine thought furiously. Whoever and whatever he was, he was badly injured.

"A drunk cosplayer.' She said suddenly. "I can smell the alcohol from here." She said waving a hand in front of her nose. "He must have thought the dumpster would be a nice place to sleep it off." She said with a shake of her head.

"A what?" He asked in confusion.

"A cosplayer, you know those people who dress up like Darth Vader and comic book superheroes. I think I heard there was a huge comic book convention going on today. He must have had way too much fun pretending to be a superhero." She said with a strained smile.

He nodded. "Pretty good costume." He nodded grudgingly.

"Yes well, some of them spend thousands trying to look exactly like who they are supposed to be. This one looks like a Japanese comic book character." She said pointing to a weapon that was stuck through the creature's belt. He nodded more convinced. "You got a knife?" She asked.

The operator nodded his head as he pulled a knife from his pocket. She quickly cut his jacket off. His one arm didn't look right. She swore as she realized that under the jacket there was a hoodie and under that, a shirt. _Who wore that many layers in June?_ She asked herself. "But just to be on the safe side maybe you can help me load him into my SUV and I'll take him to a hospital or medi center of some sort." She said deciding to just get out of the alley and find someplace better where she could look over his injuries.

He looked reluctant, but nodded. "Better this way." He finally said as he heaved the creature up and over his shoulder. "Then I won't have to fill out an incident report. Can you keep this quiet?" The operator asked her.

"Don't see the harm. I'll just tell anyone who asks that I found him in the alley." She said with a shrug as he settled the creature in the back seat of her SUV.

"Mt. Sinai Hospital is over on the other side of Central Park. Just take Broadway up to 86 hang a right through Central Park and left on Madison." He said with a wave as he picked up the creature's helmet and jacket and tossed it back into the dumpster.

"Thank you!" She said as she climbed into the driver's seat. Her palms were sweaty and her heart was beating a rapid tattoo in her chest.

She needed to get out of here. She jammed her emotions down, figuring that panicking was not a useful emotion and instead backed out of the alley and headed in the direction the garbage truck operator had told her was the direction of the hospital.

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><p>By the time the young Purple Dragon finally made it to street level he was shocked to see a garbage truck parked in the alley. He admitted to himself that he had taken his time making his way to the dumpster. He didn't want to kill the freak, but he didn't want to run into him either if he was still alive and in the dumpster. He was hoping he would be already dead, or gone by the time he made it to the alley.<p>

He watched as the dumpster the freak had fallen into was lifted up and dumped into the awaiting garbage truck. He caught sight of the side of the helmet as well as part of the sleeve of the jacket the freak had been wearing as the pile of garbage fell in a massive heap into the top of the garbage truck.

The garbage truck operator hit a button and the Dragon heard the crunching of compacting garbage.

He winced slightly. "That's a bad way to go." He said softly to himself. He figured that if the freak hadn't been dead going into the dumpster, he was dead now. He turned and scurried off in the direction of Hun's headquarters to inform his lieutenant that the freak was dead.

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><p><strong>Leonardo<strong> checked in with Donatello. He was going to bed and he was worried his brother may try pulling an all nighter trying to catch up with all of the broken gadgets that he and his brothers had piled on Donatello to fix.

"Hey Donny, remember to get some rest, okay?" He said to his younger brother.

Donatello stopped what he was doing and looked at him. "Raph's not back yet?" He asked softly.

Leonardo paused but shook his head. "He's probably out breaking things with Casey." He said with a shrug.

Donatello nodded. "You want to talk about what happened Leo? Mikey said it was pretty bad."

"Raph is being Raph, end of story." He said cutting off any questions his younger brother may have had by turning and walking away. He didn't want to talk about his fight with Raphael. Raphael had been bad of late. He had believed that once he had grieved for their father maybe Raphael would fall back into line and realize that being a hot headed idiot and storming off all the time wasn't the way to handle his anger. But if anything, Raphael had been getting worse.

Leonardo walked to his meditation room and sat down cross-legged in the center of the room. He blew out a frustrated breath and contemplated his hot headed younger brother. He had said things that he hadn't meant when he himself had lost his own temper. But he was at the end of his rope trying to deal with Raphael and his hostility. He was trying to deal with him the best that he could, but he was coming to the realization that his best was not going to be good enough where Raphael was concerned.

"I could really use your guidance Master Splinter." He whispered . He knew he was not going to receive an answer but felt comforted talking to his resting father anyway. "I don't know what I am going to do with Raphael. You always had such patience when dealing with his temper and I fear that I do not harbour the same amount of patience." He said softly.

He closed his eyes and meditated for a while before dragging himself off to bed for the night.

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><p><strong>Katherine<strong> managed to take the George Washington bridge out of Manhattan and head northeast until she hit highway 87 and an hour and a half later turned right on highway 23 A up to and past Hunter and to her Uncle's house.

She figured it was better getting the creature as far away for people as she could, and hope that he wasn't so badly injured that he was going to die.

During her two hour drive she had kept looking at the unconscious figure laying on the seat behind her, but he never woke up.

She pulled up to her Uncle's darkened Victorian. The place was huge, beautiful and creepy. She always waited for lighting and thunder to make the house look ominous, but it never seemed to happen. It was beautiful and bright during the day, at night, positively gothic.

She got out of the driver's seat and walked over to the passenger side. She opened the back door and looked at the creature's head. His skin was green and he wore a mask of red cloth over his eyes. He was still unconscious. "Now how do I get you into the house?" She asked as she looked at him.

Secretly she was hoping that the lie she had told the garbage truck operator had been true, that it was just a cosplayer dressed in a ridiculously good and expensive costume, but this hope was dashed as she watched him open his mouth slightly letting out a breath.

"Great." She mumbled to herself. She had no idea what she had just gotten herself into, but whatever it was it couldn't be good. She looked at the unconscious figure again. She was strong for her size, but as her size only topped out at 5 foot nothing and 100 pounds, she didn't have much to work with. The figure in the SUV didn't look overly tall either, but he looked heavy.

She grabbed him beneath the shoulders and heaved. She fell back under his unexpected weight. "Oof." She said as he landed on her. "You're heavy." She grimaced as she managed to wiggle out from under his prone form. "Well at least you are out of the SUV. Next step, getting you up the porch steps and into the house." She grumbled to herself.

She managed to drag him to the house and up the steps of the porch. "Sorry." She said softly to the unconscious figure. He had had a little bit of a bumpy ride as she had dragged him up the steps.

She lay him down and fumbled with her keys. She was lucky her uncle lived in the middle of nowhere on a heavily treed property. She wouldn't have any snoopy neighbours wondering what she was doing.

She managed to get the door open, flick on the lights and drag the creature inside. His face didn't twitch when the light hit it. She looked around at the opulent foyer and contemplated whether she should drag him upstairs to the second floor and into a bedroom, or if she should just try to haul him to the couch in the living room. Her shoulders slumped as she looked at the stairs. It would be easier to treat any injuries he had if she wasn't hampered by the back of the couch.

"This is going to suck, so bad." She said as she grabbed him under the shoulders again.

She frowned and lay him back down. She studied what she could see of his shoulder through his clothing and concluded that his left shoulder was dislocated. She felt the shoulder through his clothing. It felt like an anterior dislocation which was good. A posterior one would be pretty much impossible for her to do.

"Well I guess it's better if I do this while you aren't conscious." She said as she pulled his lower arm up towards his shoulder at a 90 degree angle and then slowly bent it towards his chest. Keeping the same angle of his elbow she then gently rotated it away from his body and back again. The was a sickening pop sas his shoulder slid back into his socket.

She shuddered a little. It was always gross popping a shoulder back in. "You're lucky my brother dislocated his shoulder all the time playing rugby. I had to learn how to pop it back in whenever it popped out." She said to the unconscious creature. She grabbed him again under the shoulders and heaved him up one step at a time. She didn't know how long it took her to haul him up the stairs and into her bedroom, but she was exhausted by the time she made it to the room.

She looked at the bed and groaned. She took a deep breath and told herself that she could do it, just that final stretch to get so much dead weight up and onto the bed. Luckily for her it was an antique four pollster. With the mattress, it was quite high off the ground and stairs had been provided for any guests that were too short, (mainly her) to get into the bed.

Walking backwards up the two steps, she hauled the creature onto the bed and let out a sigh of relief as she collapsed next to him. She lay there for a few minutes trying to catch her breath and telling her tired muscles that she couldn't fall asleep yet. She rolled out of bed and took her first real look at her house guest.

His face was round and green. Eyes framed by red fabric were deeply inset in his face.

She looked at him and padded from the room to return a few minutes later with a pair of scissors. "Sorry." She apologized as she began cutting the clothes from his body. She needed to see how bad his injuries were and besides that, he had fallen into a dumpster, he didn't smell the greatest at the moment.

She looked at the creature that lay before her and decided he most reminded her of a turtle. He had a plastron as well as a carapace and even though the two shell's were not joined together he was definitely turtlish.

He had two fingers and a thumb on each of his hands and two toes on each foot. She had removed his hoodie, shirt, pants, boots, socks (which were stinky) and the strange weapon he had been carrying in his had left his boxer briefs and covered him with a sheet and comforter.

Most of his injuries seemed to be very deep bruises, a few cuts and scrapes (which were easily bandaged), and a swollen, possibly sprained right wrist and left ankle. Nothing appeared to be broken which she was thankful for because she couldn't set bones. Of course she was unsure about his ribs, since they were mostly covered by his plastron. However the large bump on the back of his head worried her, but she supposed she would have to wait until he woke up to assess any head trauma that had possibly occurred. He had been wearing a bike helmet, but it had been badly damaged and she figured that it hadn't given much protection if the bump occurred before or after whatever had happened to him to put him in the badly beaten state he was in at the moment.

She sighed as she curled up in a chair next to the bed. She contemplated the creature as she mentally processed the fact that she was looking at something that wasn't human. "There is a giant turtle creature in my bed." She said to herself out loud, just so she could hear how ridiculous it sounded.

She studied him again. She didn't know if he was intelligent or if he even spoke English, but she observed that he wore human clothes, and his physiology was mostly human, so she had to conclude that he was at least familiar with human culture to a certain extent. He had also hidden his appearance which further supported her theory that he was familiar with human panic in regards to anything that was different.

"So just who, and what, are you?" She asked him as she looked at his unconscious form.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey all, sorry for the late replies, but I was away to Drumhellar looking at dinosaurs!**

**So thank you thank you to chibiwolf33, Ravenhearst, Raphs No.1 Girl, and Rocky181 for your awesome reviews!**

**Please enjoy this next chapter!**

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><p><span>Chapter 3<span>

**Leonardo** was the first one up. This was not unusual. Donatello usually worked into the late hours of the night and into the early hours of the morning, and Michelangelo was addicted to watching B movies on late night TV.

He stretched as he made himself some toast for breakfast. He sat down and read yesterday's paper in the silence of the kitchen. When he had finished he cleaned up his dishes and walked to Raphael's room. He knocked on the door and receiving no answer opened it expecting to find his sleeping brother. He frowned as he looked at his brother's empty bed. He slowly backed out of the room but shrugged. It wouldn't be unusual for Raphael to crash at Casey and April's place if it had gotten too late and especially if Raphael hadn't calmed down enough to want to come home.

He began a steady set of practice routines and training. He had been surprised that Raphael had managed to knock him to the ground. The cut on his throat had been shallow, but it had only reinforced his thought that he had been not dedicating enough time to his training ever since Master Splinter had passed away.

Michelangelo burst into the training area. He frowned at his brother who looked panicked. "What's the matter Mikey?" He asked as he sheathed his weapons.

"Casey and April are here." He said and edge of worry in his voice.

"So Raph's still mad?" He asked.

Michelangelo was already shaking his head. "Raph didn't go to Casey and April's last night. They say they never heard anything from Raph last night." His brother's voice trembled.

"Don't worry Mikey, I'm sure Raph is fine." He said as he put a comforting hand on his brother's shoulder as he led him to the living room.

He looked at the empty living room and followed the sounds of voices to Donatello's work room.

"I'm tracking his cell now." Donatello said as he hunched over his computer. Leonardo waited as Donatello began furiously typing. "73rd and Broadway." Donatello pronounced. "His signal is stationary though."

"What's at 73rd and Broadway?" Michelangelo asked.

" It looks like apartment buildings mostly and some shops, but Raph's cell is located in an alley." Donatello said pointing to his computer screen.

"Let's go, April, Casey, if you two could stay here in case Raph comes back that would be helpful." Leonardo said as April and Casey agreed.

"Be careful out there Leo." She said to him.

Leonardo nodded as he and his brother's jumped into their converted armoured truck.

"Do you really think Raph is okay?" Michelangelo asked in a worried voice.

Leonardo looked at his baby brother in the rear view mirror as he followed Donatello's directions. "Mikey, Raph is..." But he frowned. "I hope so Mikey." He said truthfully.

They drove the rest of the way in silence, Donatello giving directions into the alley where Raphael's cell signal was located.

They all pulled up the hoods of their hoodies and slowly got out of the truck looking around, alert for any signs of danger. Leonardo drew one of his katanas as Donatello walked over to where he pulled Raphael's trashed cell phone from beneath a pile of refuse.

"Maybe he lost it?" Michelangelo asked hopefully.

"Over there." Donatello pointed to where skid marks had streaked the pavement. Leonardo quickly strode to where there was a pile of cardboard boxes. He moved the cardboard away and revealed what was left of Raphael's motorcycle.

Donatello knelt down and looked at it closely. "It's front end is completely damaged. It looks as if his bike hit the wall head on, but judging from the skid marks, it was already on its side when it hit." Donatello said as he looked up at them and frowned. "Leo." Donatello said motioning with his finger to something behind him and above his head.

He looked over his shoulder and spotted the fire escape that hung precariously off the building behind him. He turned around and looked at it.

He looked at his brothers and nodded. They needed to head to the rooftops. They managed to scout around and find another fire escape that led to the roof, there they found signs of a struggle.

Leonardo swallowed.

He looked at Donatello who was coolly assessing the situation. "It looks as if someone or someones, chased Raph into the alley. He ditched his bike and broke his cell. He climbed onto the roof where he was involved in an altercation with whoever pushed him into the alley in the first place, and then, I don't know. He may have broken the fire escape to slow down whoever was chasing him, or it could have broken as he escaped." Donatello said as he looked at the fire escape.

"But if Raph escaped, why didn't he come home?" Michelangelo asked in a worried voice.

Leonardo frowned. "Raph must have been captured ." He concluded.

"But by who?" Donatello asked as he stood up looking around. "Oh no." Donatello said in a barely contained whisper of horror.

Leonardo took in his brother's pale face and turned around. On the wall of an adjoining building there was fresh graffiti. Four stylized turtles, were painted in green. But one turtle had a large red X through it, and the words:

**R.I.P Freak!**

Written boldly across the wall, a purple dragon painted slightly to the side of the written words.

"No." Leonardo said shaking his head in denial. "He's not dead. Hun has him and is using this to taunt us, draw us into a trap." Leonardo said with conviction, because it couldn't be true. It couldn't be true because the last words spoken in anger to his brother could not be the last ones he ever said to him.

"So what are we going to do Leo?" Donatello asked softly.

Leonardo was silent for a few moments as he thought furiously. "We find Hun, get Raph back." He said with a nod.

"But Leo, Hun's been MIA for months, we don't even know where he's hiding out." Michelangelo said to him.

Leonardo pulled out a sword and pointed it at the wall. "We don't, but somebody does. We find whoever is doing these, we will eventually find someone who knows something."

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><p><strong>Donatello<strong> watched his older brother pace back and forth in agitation. It had been three days and the Purple Dragons had been laying low. They hadn't been able to find a single street thug belonging to the gang and no one seemed to know where they had disappeared to.

It was just past 11:00pm and they were getting ready to out for another sweep of the city. Leonardo had been tense and agitated, while Michelangelo had been quiet and reserved.

"Maybe we should go to Karai and see if she can help." Michelangelo suggested softly.

It was the third time Michelangelo had suggested the idea, but Leonardo had flat out refused to entertain the notion of being indebted to Karai. Donatello's eye ridges rose in shock as his big brother replied. "If we have no luck tonight Mikey, I will personally go to Karai and beg her to help us." Leonardo said in a voice cracking with emotion.

Michelangelo nodded and stood as Leonardo walked to their truck. Donatello followed closely behind him. Michelangelo jumped into the truck closing the door. Leonardo paused with his hand on the door handle. "He can't be dead Donny, he can't." Leonardo said as the mask of assurance he had worn the last three days cracked, showing worry, grief and guilt.

"If he's out there Leo, we'll find him." Donatello said reassuringly, because he too had to believe that Hun was out there somewhere with his brother just waiting for them, because walking into a trap orchestrated by Hun was better than the alternative.

Leonardo gave a curt nod, his mask of determination and confidence replacing the one of worry and grief. Leonardo had to keep it together for Michelangelo. Leonardo jumped into the driver's seat, while he took shotgun.

They drove around the city for two hours looking for any sign of anything suspicious and found nothing. Over the last three days they had found more of the same graffiti tags declaring the Raphael was dead.

Leonardo suddenly wrenched on the wheel. "Did you see something Leo?" Michelangelo asked hopefully from the back.

"No." His brother replied gruffly. "I'm going back to where they took him. Maybe there was a clue or something that we missed."

They drove in silence until they reached the alley. They all got out of the truck and began searching the alley for anything they had missed. A light rain had begun to fall hampering their efforts to find anything new. The skid marks were still there, but Raphael's bike had been taken back to the lair to be fixed. Truthfully fixing the bike had been the only thing keeping Donatello going these past three days. After all, when they got Raphael back, he would want to be able to ride his bike.

After coming up empty handed, they scaled the now repaired fire escape to the roof of the building where Raphael had fought off his attackers.

Leonardo stopped as his head reached the roofline. He motioned for them to be quiet as he proceeded up the final rungs quietly.

By the wall where the graffiti had been painted there looked to be a 14 year old teen. At first Donatello thought that he was adding to the existing graffiti, but then Donatello realized he was painting over it.

They silently padded over to the boy. Their foot falls muffled by the rain which had increased a tiny amount. The teen must have heard or sensed something because he quickly turned, roller raised like a weapon.

Donatello studied the boy who went completely white. His initial estimation of 14 seemed to be accurate. He had a mop of longish brown hair, pale skin, and blue eyes.

"It wasn't me!" He shouted as he backed away in fear shaking his head. "I swear I didn't kill him." He said shaking with fright.

Leonardo's initially curious gaze went hard as he drew his katana and pointed it at the teen. "Then if you didn't kill him, where is he?" Leonardo asked in a deadly soft voice.

The teen shook his head wildly from side to side. "I don't know, I swear I don't know where his body is. The other Dragons killed him, not me, I only seen what happened. That's all." He said as he backed up hitting the wall behind him.

Leonardo and Michelangelo went grey, and Donatello felt all the blood drain from his own face. "Tell me what happened, NOW!' Leonardo ordered his katana shaking slightly.

"We were doin a job, that's all, a shipment of something had come in and we were supposed to deliver it to another warehouse when the driver spotted the red bike with the fr...with your brother." He hastily changed the word he was going to use as he looked at the katana blade again.

"The driver decided to try to tail him and he called in reinforcements. The driver herded him into the alley. I was a passenger in the truck, and saw your brother as he crashed his bike, but he managed to jump before he hit the wall, but he was really hurt. He went up the fire escape, but there were a bunch of Dragons waiting up there. By the time I reached the roof it was almost over. He was too injured to fight, but he tried. And then..." He swallowed. "His leg gave way and someone kicked him and he just fell. When I looked over the side he was just, laying there in the dumpster, like a broken doll. His helmet was all smashed and his arm, it didn't look right, but he didn't move. I was ordered to go down and see if he was still alive, but by the time I got down into the alley there was a garbage truck picking up the dumpster." The teen shook his head regretfully. "There was nothing I could do."

"So he could have climbed out of the dumpster. He could have made it out." Leonardo insisted desperately.

The Purple Dragon shook his head. "I saw him go into the truck when the dumpster was tipped up. I'm sorry. I'm really, really sorry."

"Donny where do they dump the garbage for this part of the city?" He asked.

"Leo..." He began but was cut off by the teen.

"I'm sorry but, if he was still alive when he went in..." He shook his head with regret. "The garbage truck was compacted before the truck left the alley. I'm really, really sorry." He said desperately. "He didn't deserve that. I don't care what your deal is, he didn't deserve to be hunted down and killed like that. That's why, I'm out." He said. "But I wanted to fix this," He said pointing to the wall behind him. "Before I left. I'm going to go live with my grandma out of state." He finished with a shrug.

Donatello's gaze went to the wall where the kid had painted over the word **Freak!** So now it just said **R.I.P.**

"Who ordered it." Leonardo's voiced wavered. "Who ordered the hit on my brother!" He shouted as tears threatened to fall from his own eyes as well as his brother's.

"No one." The kid said softly. "The driver of the truck, they say Hun had him taken out, permanently. As much as he wants you gone, I think he wants you all gone together, not just one of you, and besides Hun's been busy trying to keep his territory stable. Other gangs are trying to muscle their way in, Hun hasn't really had the time to be worrying about you." He finished softly.

Donatello watched as Leonardo warred with himself. He could see the desire to kill the teen in his eyes, but his honour wouldn't allow him to do it. The teen had been a part of the gang, but he had only been a spectator.

"Go." Leonardo said in a voice that was barely audible. The teen took one last look at them and hurried away. Leonardo's arm fell to his side as the rain fell around them. Michelangelo fell to his knees while Leonardo looked up at the sky, the rain coursing down his brother's face so that his tears blended in with the rain.

Donatello felt his world blacken as grief poured through him. He too felt himself fall to his knees. It couldn't be true. Raphael couldn't be dead, his brother couldn't be gone. Denial welled up within him as logic overrode the feeling. He slowly stood, took one final look at the place that had claimed his brother's life, at the spot where his brother had breathed his final breath, and walked over to Michelangelo. He helped his sobbing brother to his feet.

"Come on Leo." He said his voice cracking. "There's nothing for us here." He managed to get the words out and walk with legs that felt like lead, to the fire escape.

Donatello climbed into the driver's seat and waited for his older brother to finally climb into the truck.

Donatello didn't even remember the drive home, didn't remember anything that happened for the rest of the night, but he was pretty sure somewhere along the way he finally fell into a short exhausted slumber.

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><p><strong>So did everyone enjoy? I hope so, and just lettin you know I love reviews! =)<strong>


	4. Chapter 4

**Hope everyone is enjoying the** **story so far! =) Just wanted to thank Ravenhearst, cibiwolf33 and Rocky181 for your awesome support with this story! **

**I hope everyone enjoys this next chapter!**

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><p><span>Chapter 4<span>

**Katherine** heard a groan come from the bed. She looked over at the bed, paintbrush still held in her teeth, her hand mid-brush stroke as she paused momentarily to see if he was actually going to regain consciousness.

It had been over a week and she was exhausted. She had always had an appreciation for anyone who was a nurse, but now she felt as if she hadn't REALLY appreciated them enough. Changing the sheets had been the hardest part.

Unlike in books and movies, the reality of looking after someone who was completely unconscious for a long amount of time was not a pleasant as they would have you believe. Luckily for her, the shell on his back made him easier to roll back and forth when removing the bedding.

She had stripped his boxer briefs off by the end of the first night and washed them. After that, plastic had went under a layer of bedding for easier clean up. She had felt bad about him being completely naked, but it was just easier that way, and besides she had only peeked a little, she admitted to herself.

He moved his head and she put her paintbrush down, pulling the one from her mouth and tucking it absently behind her ear.

She padded softly over to him and gently touched his cheek. His skin was cool to the touch. She moved her hand up to his forehead, which also was cool. She was envious, she was cooking.

Her Uncle's house wasn't that hot considering, but she wasn't used to the humidity. She was used to a dryer climate with no humidity. Where she was from it was freezing in the winter and hot in the summer. As things stood right now she had stripped down to her bra and the shortest pair of shorts she could find, and she was still a little uncomfortable. She hadn't bothered to pack a bathing suit, which she was seriously regretting. At the moment though her normal painting clothes were too hot to actually wear, and it was just easier to wash paint out of skin than clothing. And besides, she figured nothing would wake her houseguest up better than her standing around half naked because that was just the way Murphy's Law went. The one time she is painting in her bra, he would wake up.

Her hand slid back down to his cheek. He didn't move or respond again. She sighed as she looked back at the canvas she was painting. There were four skulls lined up next to the canvas on loan from the Natural Museum of History, and thanks in a large part to her Uncle, who with his influence, had gotten her the commission from the museum. She had been commissioned to recreate who these people had been before time and extinction had wiped them out. She had to paint a few 'every day' life scenes as well as a few face portraits using the Neanderthal skulls that were currently staring back at her. She was trying to put flesh back onto bone through her imagination and a significant amount of knowledge regarding musculature of the face and bones.

She closed her eyes. She had so much to do. With what the museum wanted and with what she had to do for her Uncle in regards to getting all of his notes and sketches in order, and redrawing the ones that were completely unusable, she had a lot on her plate. She was just glad her Uncle was on Sabbatical somewhere in France trying to find something, so she didn't have to have him constantly standing over her shoulder. Also it worked out very well regarding her current house guest. Her Uncle probably wouldn't even be back by the time she left to go back home. Though she hoped her house guest woke up so that she could take him back home, wherever his home was.

She opened her eyes and looked at the creature in the bed. He looked back at her with pain filled honey brown eyes. She blinked at him in shock. "You're awake!"

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><p><strong>His<strong> mind and body knew nothing but Pain. His body was laced with so much pain it hurt to breathe. He had to be dying. There was no way he could be in this much pain and not be. He opened his eyes and looked at the face of an angel. A glorious halo of tawny, gold and red ringlets surrounded a slightly tanned face, with intense, moss green eyes looking at him with concern. She said something to him with perfect, pink, cupids bow lips, but he couldn't understand what she had said. He closed his eyes again because darkness was dragging him back down.

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><p><strong>Katherine<strong> frowned. He was in pain, a great deal of pain. Not that she was surprised. He had been beaten so badly, if he had been human he would probably have been dead. She figured the only thing that kept him alive was that he had been wearing a helmet and that his plastron and carapace covered his internal organs and kept them from sustaining any damage, though she wasn't sure if he had any broken ribs.

She pulled away knowing there wasn't anything she could do for him to ease any pain he was feeling. She had wanted him to wake up, but now, knowing how much pain he was in, it was probably better for him to just sleep through the worst of his injuries.

At the same time she was getting concerned that he would die from dehydration. She had been giving him water, but only a small amount was actually going down his throat.

But he had opened his eyes. It was a start.

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><p><strong>He<strong> opened his eyes. Pain flowed through him, but it no longer consumed his every thought. It had finally reached the point of being bearable. He again looked into the face of the angel he had sworn was no more than a dream. He closed his eyes and opened them again allowing his vision to focus better. He realized then that unless angels wore paintbrushes tucked behind their ears and had random smudges of paint on their faces, that he was actually looking at a flesh and blood woman.

She pulled back and looked around. She dashed out of sight and returned a second later with a bottle of water. She sat down on the edge of the bed and helped him to sit up as she helped him to drink the water down. He was so thirsty, but he wasn't sure why.

"How do you feel?" She asked him gently.

He closed his eyes in pain. "I feel like a heavy metal drummer is doin a drum solo in my head." He managed to croak out.

"Well, with the bump you have on the back of your head I wouldn't be surprised." She said with a shake of her head. She reached over and opened the drawer of the night table that was next to the bed. She drew out a bottle and poured a couple pills into her hand and gave them to him. "This probably won't help, but it's worth a try." She said apologetically.

He went to grab the pills but winced as pain shot up his arm.

"Here." She said softly as she helped him take the pills and wash them down with another swig of water.

He closed his eyes and leaned back against her. His head cradled between her shoulder and neck. She was warm and she felt good against his cool skin. She smelled like a combination of paint and some sort of flower.

He was tired, very, very tired. He felt her shift as if she meant to leave. For some reason this thought sent a wave of panic through him. "Don't go. Please." He managed to whisper before he was dragged back down into sleep.

He didn't know how long he had slept, but it was dark when he woke up. A very dim lamp was lit beside the bed. He was wrapped around something warm and soft. He lifted his head up and looked at the face of the woman he had seen earlier, the one he had thought was an angel, though why he thought she was an angel he wasn't sure, something about thinking he was dying for some reason.

She looked as if she was sleeping. He was curled around her, his head was resting in the crook of her shoulder. He slowly moved away from her hoping not to wake her up. He remembered that when she had been helping him earlier, she had looked exhausted, and he briefly wondered if he was the reason, though why he thought that he wasn't sure. He was tempted to just lay down and go back to sleep, but his movement had disturbed her and her eyes flashed open looking at him.

"What time is it?" She asked herself quietly as she looked at the nightstand. The clock proclaimed it to be 11:02 pm. She groaned and looked back at him. "How are you feeling?" She asked him gently.

"Head's still a little sore, but not as bad as before." He said as he moved a little more and winced in pain. "I feel like I was hit by a truck though." He said groaning partially in pain, partially because she shifted out of his arms and slid from the bed.

"Well, you were beaten pretty badly." She said softly. "But I did the best I could with tending to your injuries. Do you feel up to me having a better look?" She asked him softly.

He shook his head and immediately regretted the movement as black spots flickered and danced in front of his eyes. He closed his eyes for a moment as she gently removed his arm from where he had unconsciously tucked it into his side. He looked down at his arm and his eyes widened in shock. His arm was green and he only had two fingers and a thumb. She unwrapped the bandage from around his wrist and turned his arm over, slowly rotating his wrist. His breath hitched in pain.

"Well it isn't broken, but it is badly sprained." She said as she gently began wrapping the bandaged back around his wrist. She moved down to his leg and gently pulled it from beneath the covers. He looked at his leg which was also the same rich shade of green. He only had two toes on his foot. "Can you wiggle your toes?" She asked him. He tried to wiggle his toes and he could but the movement was painful. She slowly began rotating his foot but he sat bolt up letting out a hiss of pain. She frowned.

"I don't think it's broken but..." She frowned and felt his ankle again running her fingers along the bone and tendons in his ankle. She closed her eyes as her warm fingers gently probed his ankle. "If your anatomy is like that of a human, which I strongly suspect it is...you have a tendon that isn't where it is supposed to be. This is going to hurt, hang on."

"What?" He asked as she twisted his ankle. He screamed in pain. He glared at her. "What the hell are you tryin to do?" He yelled at her.

"Try moving your ankle now." She said ignoring his outburst of anger.

He glared at her but rotated his ankle. It was a little tender but shooting pain no longer threatened to overwhelm him. She nodded as he looked at her in shock. "How'd you do that?" He asked her.

"I have a very good knowledge of human musculature and anatomy." She said with a shrug. "Does it hurt to breathe?" She asked him. He slowly breathed in and out.

"A little." He said truthfully. She began to gently probe the sides of his body. "You were protected for the most part, but I wasn't sure if you had any internal damage or broken ribs, but I can't tell. If it hurts to breathe you either have broken ribs or badly bruised ones." She looked at him intently. "I want to see if you have a concussion, though I would suspect if you did, it would be too late now." She said as she moved her finger back and forth in front of his face. He followed her finger. She got closer to him and looked into his eyes. There was a flash of bright light that had him closing his eyes. "Hey." He protested.

"Pupil dilation is normal, tracking is normal. What year is it?" She asked him.

"2011." He said frowning at her.

"What month and day is it.?" She asked him.

"June 2nd. Why are you asking me all of these questions?"

"Because I want to make sure that you didn't damage anything in that head of yours. And it is June 14th now. You've been unconscious for 12 days." She said looking at him to gage his reaction.

"12 days!" He said in shock. "What happened to me?" He asked softly.

She frowned at him. "I was hoping you could tell me." She said gently.

He frowned. _He remembered..._His head began to ache and pound. "I don't remember." He whispered.

She gently grasped his hand in her warm one. "It's okay, sometimes when something traumatic happens your mind blocks it out. Let's start maybe with your name, and where you are from." She said encouragingly.

He rolled his eyes. "I know who I am, I'm..." Blank. That was all he had. Nothing. He tried to think harder but there was nothing, it was like trying to grab at a spider web in the dark, he could feel that his name was there, but he couldn't seem to hold onto it.

His eyes widened in fear. He didn't know who he was. He looked down at his chest. He didn't even know what he was, because whatever he was, he wasn't human. He felt panic begin to claw at him.

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><p><strong>Yikes Raph has no memory! Poor Raph being all <strong>


	5. Chapter 5

**Just wanted to say thank you to Raphs No.1 Girl and Rocky181 for your awesome reviews!**

**I hope that everyone enjoys this next chapter, it was kinda fun to write. **

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><p><span>Chapter 5<span>

**He** looked at the woman in panic.

"Hey, hey, it's okay." She said as she gently sat down next to him. She wrapped an arm around his shoulders. "Maybe try where you live?" She encouraged. He shook his head. Nothing. "Okay, how about what State you are in?" She asked him. Again he shook his head. "Country?" She asked.

"U.S.A." He said. He knew that one.

"Well that's a start." She said to him.

He looked at her desperately. "Who am I, what am I?"

"I don't know." She said gently. She then went on to explain how she had found him.

"New York." He said to himself. That sounded right somehow. That felt right.

"And you talk with a New Jersey accent, so you must be from New York originally." She said to him softly. "You were wearing this over your eyes." He looked at the mask of red fabric that she placed in his hand. "And this was in the belt of your pants." She said as she put a three pronged weapon in his hand. It felt familiar and comfortable. "It's a sai." She said softly.

He nodded because he did know what the weapon was, and gripping it, he knew that he could use it.

"Do these seem familiar to you, or do you know why you were wearing and carrying them?" She asked him.

"I know how to use this." He said as he slowly changer his grip on the sai. "But I don't know why, or why I would be wearing this mask." He said in frustration. "I don't remember anything." He growled.

She nodded and looked at him. "Well," She said to him. "Until you remember, don't worry, you are okay to stay here until you recover and you remember who you are."

He frowned as he noticed her accent. "You're not from here." He said to her.

She shook her head. "You're right, I'm Canadian." She said to him.

"Canadian eh?" He said with a brief smile that hurt his face.

She rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Funny. Well I suppose if you can joke you must be feeling better." She said as she stood and stretched. He watched as the light played over the planes of her stomach and caressed her breasts. He blinked in shock. "Did you need anything?" She asked him. "Do you feel like eating, more to drink, bathroom trip?" She asked him.

"Are you only wearing a bra?" He asked her completely ignoring what she had asked him.

She looked down at herself as if not really realizing what she was actually wearing. "I was hot." She said with a shrug. She turned serious then. "You really can't remember anything?" She asked again. "Not even one tiny thing?"

He tried and searched his memory, but the only thing he could remember was looking up at her face. That was the first memory he had. She frowned as she assessed him.

"No I can't remember anything." He growled in frustration. It was then he realized he didn't even know her name. "Who are you?" He asked her.

She blinked at him. "Sorry." She said with a smile. "My name is Katharine, but my friends call me Kit."

"Kit?" He questioned.

"Short for Kitten, long story." She said with a shrug.

He looked at the bathroom. He needed to use it, he tried to move and winced. Everything hurt.

"What are you doing?" She asked him.

"Tryin' to get out of bed." He said with a grimace as he tried to move again.

"What, wait, why?" She asked. "Oh." She said as his gaze flicked to the bathroom. "Okay." She said as she walked over to him to help him up.

He glared at her. He didn't like that she was going to have to help him to the bathroom. He tried to move again by himself but overwhelming pain stopped him. She placed her arm under his and the movement of his arm was painful. He hitched in a breath and she froze.

"Sorry." She apologized softly.

He closed his eyes as he waited for the pain to lessen. He nodded that he was ready to try moving again. He slid one leg painfully over the edge of the bed and froze, but this time, not in pain, but rather, with growing realization.

He looked down at himself. He slid a tiny bit more which confirmed what he was beginning to suspect. "I'm naked!" He exclaimed a blush rising up his cheeks. "Why am I naked?" He asked looking into her moss green eyes which were almost too close for comfort. An answering blush rose up in her cheeks.

"I had to cut your clothes off to see what injuries you sustained, and besides you were in a dumpster remember? Your clothes were a little on the stinky side. " She said to him. "And it was just easier." She said her blush growing redder.

_What was easier? _He wondered. It was then that it hit him. He had been unconscious for 12 days, which meant...

"I won't think about it if you won't." She said as he felt embarrassment spread up his cheeks. "But, I suppose I have your underwear in the laundry room, I could go get them for you, and I might have a pair of sweats that may fit." She said hastily.

He thought about it as embarrassment clawed at him even more."I'll be right back." She said as she gently removed her arm and body from around him and dashed from the room. She returned a moment later with a black pair of boxer briefs and a pair of grey sweats. "They've been washed."She said placing the underwear in his lap. "And you can try these." She said placing the grey sweatpants in his lap. "I stole them from my brother, I use them as my painting sweats. They may be a little long, but they may fit around your waist."

He closed his eyes. Although it was embarrassing he figured the effort to actually make himself decent would not be worth the trouble, and besides it wasn't as if she hadn't already seen him naked.

"Let's just get to the bathroom." He grumbled. If he could make it there, then maybe he would try for making himself decent when he got back.

"Okay." She said with a nod even though he didn't say anything she must have read resignation in his body language. "This is going to be fun. No offence but you are heavy." She said as she gently put her arm around his body and gently lifted his arm over her shoulders.

He was finally able to move his other leg. It took another 5 minutes before he was able to move enough to attempt to stand.

They managed to make it to the bathroom and he stopped at the door. "I'll handle it from here." He managed to grumble out. He was not having her in the bathroom with him.

"Are you..." He glared at her. "Kay." She said as she slid from beneath his arm.

He managed to step into the bathroom and shut the door behind him. _He was going to do this even if it took him all damn night._ He thought to himself.

It didn't take him all night but it was a very slow and painful process. He was standing at the counter shakily washing his hands. He could mostly stand by himself, but moving was a problem. Any slight movement shot an overwhelming torrent of pain throughout his body. That and he was so damn weak he was shaking just with the effort of standing.

He heard her knock on the door.

"I know it's a little late." He heard her say through the door. "But maybe you'd like to take a bath?"

He looked at the claw footed tub sitting in the corner. His only thought had been of crawling back into bed and waking up from the nightmare he found himself in. He looked at himself in the mirror and looked at the creature that stared back at him. _Who was he, and what was he? _He closed his eyes. "A bath would be nice." He said softly. The thought that he had been lying in bed for twelve days made his skin crawl, and unfortunately he could smell himself, and the smell was rank.

"Can I come in?" She asked.

He slowly forced himself to reach for a towel that was hanging next to him. He gingerly wrapped it around his waist.

"Yeah." He said as he watched the door open. She had a fresh towel and cloth in her hands, a fresh bar of soap and his clothes, or he supposed his underwear and her pants, there also seemed to be a shirt added to the pile. It too seemed to be covered in paint so he figured it was a painting shirt.

"Sorry." She apologized as she noticed him staring at the clothes. "But there are no other clothes here that would fit you."

"Thank you." He said to her, and he meant it. He turned back to looking at the stranger in the mirror, trying to figure out what the hell he was.

"I think you look turtley." She said to him.

"Turtley?" He asked as he looked at the inhuman face that stared back at him.

"You know, turtle-ish, turtle-esque."

He agreed with her. He looked like a cross between an human and a turtle.

"At least now that you are awake, I can run out and go to the store and get some groceries, and pick you up some clothes." She said as she began turning on the taps for the bathtub. "I've changed your sheets and got you some more water. I'll make you some toast after you are done with your bath. You haven't eaten in 12 days, I figure you should try to eat a little bit." She said as she pushed the bottle of water into his good hand.

It hit him then what this woman had done for him. "You saved my life." He whispered. "You saved my life and you protected me, looked after me. Why?" He asked her.

She looked at him as if he had grown another head. "What do you mean why? Because you were hurt and unconscious. What was I supposed to do, just leave you in the alley, let the cops or hospital workers get a look at you and call in someone who would treat you like a science experiment?" She shook her head. "No one deserves to be treated that way. All I hoped was that you weren't going to die on me." She said softly. "I'm not a doctor, I'm an anthropologist, or rather I suppose I may be one day. But you were very badly injured and you just wouldn't wake up."

"But you didn't know who or what I was. What if I was some crazed lunatic or a monster?" He asked her.

She shrugged. "I didn't really think about it. You were hurt. I did what I could." She said to him. He looked at her. "Just say thank you." She said softly.

"Thank you." He said, but he owed her so much more than _just_ a thank you.

She walked over and turned off the taps. She dipped her hand in the water and nodded to herself.

He looked at the tub and realized she was going to have to help him in and probably bathe him as well. He grimaced. If he hadn't smelled so bad, he would seriously rethink this.

She too looked at the tub, she tipped her head to the side and nodded to herself as if she had thought of something. She disappeared from the bathroom to return a moment later with a set of steps. "This will work better." She set them in front of the tub, walked over to him and began unwrapping all of the bandages that he was covered in. Once she had finished, she helped him climb into the tub. The water was warm against his skin as he slowly and painfully sat down. Katherine removed the towel before it hit the water.

He sunk down into the tub and closed his eyes as his muscles began to relax under the heat of the water. He opened his eyes and looked at her. She handed him a bar of soap which he grasped with his good hand. "I'll leave you to it." She said gently as she stood up to leave.

"Wait." He ground out the word. It felt wrong to him to be this weak, to be this pathetic and needy. He didn't know who he was, but he felt chafed at being reliant on her to do every single thing for him_. _It made him feel irritated and angry, but tried to calm his temper and managed to grind out the words."I can't do this myself." He said to her a blush rising up his cheeks. It hurt him to say that, to admit he couldn't do something, but he couldn't. He was going to be lucky to get out of the tub now that he was in it.

She looked at him and blushed. He realized then that as embarrassing as this was for him, it was just as embarrassing for her. "Okay." She said softly as she walked back to the tub. She took the soap in her hands and looked at him. She put the soap down and stripped off her shorts.

He looked at her in shock and swallowed as she stood in her bra and underwear. "What are you doing?" He managed to ask as she stepped into the tub.

"I don't want to hurt you." She said as she knelt in the tub. "If I try to wash you outside of the tub I'll just be pulling at you and trying to lift everything. This way I should be able to limit the amount that I have to move you around." She said as she leaned over and grabbed at the soap. She dunked it in the water and lathered the soap up. She placed the soap in a little holder that was hanging on the side of the tub. She leaned over and began washing his arms being careful and as gentle as she could. She washed his chest and down the skin on the sides of his body between his carapace and plastron. By this time she had moved onto his legs and feet. She gently moved each leg and was extra careful of his ankle.

"You missed the back of my neck." He said to her because she looked as if she was rather stuck at what to do next. She nodded and leaned over him washing his neck, face and scalp. He breathed in the soft scent of flowers. Her cheek was almost brushing his cheek, her body almost touching his. He decided then that as much as he thought this was a bad idea and was chafing at her having to wash him, he found that he was rather enjoying the experience.

She pulled back and looked at him. "If you can't remember your name, it means that you will have to pick a name, something I can call you by until you remember your real name." She said softly as she studied him. "Is there a name that...I don't know, that maybe feels right?" She asked him.

He was about to shake his head when he remembered not to do that. "No." He said instead. After all, how could he pick a name when his whole life was a blank? He felt as if he didn't exist until a few hours ago. Or was it days ago? He wasn't even sure.

"Well. I found you just off Broadway. I could call you Broadway, like the Gargoyles cartoon. He was even green."

"No." He said bluntly. He wasn't going to be named after a Disney character.

"How about Red? Thief? Bandit? Ronin? Rogue? Franklin?" She began listing off random names.

He glared at her for the last one. But she just grinned to show him that she was teasing. "Wait, the second last one." He said.

"Rogue?" She asked.

He nodded. He liked that one.

"Are you sure, I was just joking." She said with surprise.

He went to shrug but stopped the movement when pain plucked at his shoulders. He didn't care. It was as good a name as any. "It works."

"If you're sure." She said as if she wasn't convinced.

"It's fine." He said.

"Then it is nice to meet you Rogue." She said with a soft smile.

She stood up then. "Well, that's all I can do, you will have to finish what I didn't get." She said handing the bar of soap to him. But he wasn't focusing on the soap. Her underwear had been light pink, but now, with being wet, she might as well have not been wearing any. He felt guilty for looking, but then figured that now they were almost even, almost. She stepped out of the tub and he watched her walk away. "I'll just get you something to eat." She said as she grabbed a towel on the way out.

He finished washing himself and tried to think of something other than her in her underwear. He supposed this meant that whoever he was and whatever he was, he was attracted to human women. And whatever he was, he was definitely not lacking in the package department.

He leaned back and smiled. _He might just need another bath tomorrow_. He thought to himself.

A few moments later Katherine walked into the room dressed in a tight fitting orange t-shirt and loose plaid black and white pants that hung low on her hips.

She wrapped a towel around his waist and used another to dry him off. The effort to stay standing was beginning to drain him of any strength he had left.

She then managed to get his underwear on, but he was in too much pain to deal with anything else. He just wanted to lay back down in bed and hopefully fall asleep so he wouldn't be in pain anymore. By the time she managed to get him to the bed he was near collapse. He drank a little more water and ate a little of the buttered toast she had made for him.

She took away his plate but left the bottle of water. He closed his eyes. Pain was radiating throughout his body. But he wanted to move. He was laying on his back and he found it uncomfortable. He looked at Katherine who was looking exhausted herself. He didn't want to ask her to help him roll over, it felt like it would be too much work, for both of them.

Katherine puffed out a frustrated breath. She climbed onto the bed, grabbed the edge of his carapace and pulled towards her. He helped her as he rolled onto his side. He groaned in pain as his body protested. He closed his eyes tightly and clenched his teeth together waiting for the rolling waves of red tinged agony to stop assaulting him. He felt her touch his cheek gently. "Are you okay?" She asked softly.

He let out a grunt of acknowledgement. Finally he felt her move away.

"If you need anything, I'll just be across the hall." She said to him gently.

His eyes flew open. She looked at him and even though he would never ask her to stay, he knew that somehow she interpreted the need anyway.

"Okay." She said softy as she walked over to a couch. There was already a pillow and a blanket. It was then he realized that she must have been sleeping on the couch for the last 12 days so she could watch over him. Emotions washed through him. Relief, gratefulness, and awe at what this woman had done for him.

She stripped off her pants and lay down on the couch. She didn't bother with the blanket. She looked exhausted which made him feel guilty. She had been watching over him , moving him, tending his injuries and trying to keep him alive for almost two weeks, all by herself.

Rogue closed his eyes and decided to try to sleep. He was more comfortable but the heat from the bath was wearing off and he found he had actually been more comfortable sitting in the bath. The warmth had seemed to help ease the pain his abused body was suffering.

He wondered if another blanket would help, but at the same time he didn't want to disturb Katherine. She had already done too much for him. He decided then that he would ask very quietly and if she was sleeping, he would just have to suffer because he was not going to wake her up.

"Can I have another blanket?" He whispered.

He sensed movement and watched as she quietly padded over to him. Her shirt was gone and she looked to be wearing some sort of dark sports bra of some sort. She looked at him with concern. She touched his forehead as if she was checking for a fever. "You're cold?" She asked in surprise. Her hand felt warm against his skin as she sat down on the bed next to him.

"The heat from the bath helped with the pain." He said softly.

She sighed. "I wish I had something stronger than aspirin to help you." She said with regret. "I have one of thosse electric blankets at home, but that doesn't really help you here." She said with a shake of her head. "Another blanket won't help though."

"You feel warm." He said groggily.

She chuckled softly. "Understatement of the year, I'm cooking. This humidity is killing me." She said with a grimace."Try to get some sleep." She said gently.

"I'm cold." He said to her.

"I'll get you another blanket." She said as she shifted to stand.

"No. My skin is cold." He said to her. She frowned as she tried to get where his mind was going. "You're hot. Your skin is hot, and you are feeling hot."

"Sooo... You want me to act like what, a giant warming pillow, and at the same time, you will act like a giant air conditioner?" She questioned.

"Yeah." He said softly. He knew it was asking a lot of her. Sure, he had asked her to stay before, but he had only been partially conscious at the time.

He could see her warring with herself and then finally shrugged. "If it will make you feel better." She said as she moved enough to pull the sheet up and slide into bed with him. "But any funny business, and I kick your ass, got it?" She said to him.

"Yes ma'am." He said with absolute innocence.

"Ugh, don't call me ma'am, I'm only 21. Now go to sleep." She said as she curled herself into him. Her back was pressed up against him, her legs perfectly fitting against his own. The warmth radiating from her skin was soothing. He forced himself to move his arm so he could wrap it around her. He felt her tense up as he draped his arm around her. But she didn't protest and he eventually felt her relax again.

He closed his eyes. He had no memory of who or what he was, and he had no idea why he was found beaten half to death in a dumpster. This thought sent a wave of panic through him, but he stamped it down. He was warm, he was safe, and he was healing. He may even remember who he was by morning. This thought made his tightened muscles relax.

He was also pressed up against and curled around a beautiful woman with a body that would make a Sports Illustrated model weep with envy. He unconsciously clutched her closer to him. Her warmth radiated around him, the scent of flowers drifting through his senses, her soft velvety skin a delight against his more textured skin. He sighed in contentment and drifted to sleep.

* * *

><p><strong>Katherine<strong> felt as Rogue pulled her closer to his body. She was going to protest but didn't as she felt him relax. She had thought it would have been uncomfortable pushed up against his plastron as she was, but it was actually comfortable, and his skin was cool enough that she didn't feel as if she was baking anymore.

She felt him relax into sleep.

She sighed. As exhausted as she was, her mind would not let her sleep.

For almost two weeks she had tried to figure out what he was. Her theories had ranged from alien or inter-dimensional being, to human bitten by a radioactive turtle. Now that she had heard him speak, and observed the way he acted, she concluded that he was from New York, as in born and bred. Which left her with human bitten by radioactive turtle, which just seemed ridiculous. His appearance had startled him, but it did not terrify him, which meant that on a subconscious level, he knew what he looked like. She had decided then to Google amnesia in the morning and see what she could learn about it.

She absently placed her arm on top of his. She couldn't even imagine waking up and not knowing who and what you were. It would be a terrifying experience, and she had understood his silent plea for her not to leave him alone. She was literally the only person he knew at the moment. But he seemed to have a lot of...pride, no that wasn't the word, more...independence, stubbornness perhaps? It was as if he was not comfortable with asking others for help, as if he thought the only one he could rely on was himself. But his eyes were so expressive. She wondered if he knew how much emotion, how much he spoke with his eyes?

Katherine closed her eyes and relaxed. He was alive and he had woken up, which meant she could finally allow herself to sleep rather than just doze for a few hours here and there.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

**Rogue** opened his eyes and looked at the woman still wrapped in his arms. He could see light streaming through the windows, but he couldn't see the clock and he didn't care. Her body was still radiating heat and she was still pressed against him. In fact they had only moved a little during the night. She was still securely wrapped in his arms, but her arm was holding his securely to her chest where his arm was now laying between her breasts, her hand clasped in his.

It felt too good having her wrapped in his arms. He closed his eyes as he searched his memory to see if he had remembered anything. But his memory came back blank. He clenched his teeth together in frustration and decided to go back to sleep.

* * *

><p><strong>Katherine<strong> woke up and looked at the clock. It was 7 am, and as far as she was concerned, way too damn early to be getting up, especially after the last few weeks. She had a lot of work to do, but she figured she had earned at least one sleep in day, and besides, she was way too comfortable to move. She shifted slightly as she felt something hard pressed up against her. She frowned as she wiggled a little more. She then wondered to herself briefly if he was actually awake or still asleep. She yawned. She didn't care, she was going back to sleep.

* * *

><p><strong>Rogue<strong> looked at the clock. It read 2:00pm. He looked at his arms which were empty. He groaned. He felt tired, but better than he had yesterday. He looked at the open bathroom door and wondered if he would be able to make it out of bed by himself. Since Katherine wasn't in the room, he figured that he had no choice but to try.

He painfully slid one leg and then the other over the side of the bed. The bed he was laying in was a dark wood four pollster. He lifted up his good arm and grabbed the post nearest his head and pulled, trying to get himself upright. His arm buckled and he fell back down on the bed which just hurt worse.

"Damn it!" He yelled in frustration.

Katherine was watching him from the doorway. He didn't know how long she had been standing there for. He narrowed his gaze at her as if just daring her to say one word to him. He was frustrated and angry and he didn't need her telling him that he shouldn't be trying to get out of bed by himself. He didn't want her to treat him like a battered and bruised invalid, even if that was exactly what he was.

She studied him for a moment. "You need some help up or are you going to do an impression of a fish out of water all day?" She asked him. "Or maybe a better analogy would be a turtle stuck on its back?" She said with an impish smile.

"I don't need your help." He snapped at her.

"Humph. You are stubborn aren't you?" She said with a shake of her head. "Well your breakfast is almost ready, so if you want to eat you had better get your butt to the bathroom more quickly than you are moving at the moment." He glared at her. "Although if you are this cranky you must be feeling better." She walked over and held out her hand. He looked at her hand in confusion. "You want to do this yourself, fine, but let's see if you can even haul yourself up." He reached out and grasped her warm hand. He felt a fission of awareness blaze through him at her touch. He looked at her in shock as she looked back at him with determined eyes. "Pull." She said to him as he pulled and she pulled. They both managed to get him to his feet and she didn't try to help him steady himself or coddle him in any way. She just looked at him.

"I'll be back in a minute." She said as she turned and left the room, letting him either walk to the bathroom by himself or fall flat on his face and have her find him lying prone on the floor unable to move when she came back.

"Heh. I'll show you." He said with determination as he forced himself to put one foot in front of the other. He managed to make it to the bathroom and back and even though he was shaking and sweating heavily by the time he made it back to the bed. He had done it by himself.

He looked at the door as Katherine strode in. He noticed that she had definitely taken more time that just a minute and figured that either she was waiting for him to call her for help, or she was just letting him take as much time as needed, either way he grudgingly appreciated that she had left him alone. But he didn't like the fact that she had somehow known exactly what he needed. He was about to yell at her for leaving him alone for longer than a minute when he completely lost his train of thought as he gazed at the tray in her hands. His stomach let out a loud complaint.

"I know you should probably take it easy in how much food you stuff into your stomach, but I figure you are probably starving and male which means if I try to give you toast or oatmeal you are going to rip my head off, so enjoy." She said as she set the tray down over his lap.

He looked down at the tray. There was a glass of orange juice, two pancakes, scrambled eggs, a slice of buttered toast and 4 strips of bacon. "I wasn't sure if you were a vegetarian or not so that is why the eggs and bacon are on a separate plate." She pointed out to him. He smelled the food and his stomach rumbled some more. "Pretty sure I ain't a vegetarian, the bacon smells too good." He said as he popped a strip in his mouth.

It was not quite crispy which seemed to him to be perfect. Katherine walked over to a dresser and took out some clothes. "I'm going to have a shower and then I will head out. I need to get some groceries and buy you some clothes." She said as she walked into the bathroom shutting the door behind her.

He wondered then if this bathroom was the only one on this floor. He heard the shower start up and he turned his attention back to his food. He finished up with the bacon and eggs (which were delicious) and started on the pancakes. She had left him some butter and some (real) Maple syrup. But of course she was Canadian, she probably didn't go for the fake stuff.

He buttered his pancakes and poured on the syrup. He shoved the first bite into his mouth and wished he had have started with the pancakes. They were mouth watering and delicious. He only managed to eat one before his stomach protested that it was almost over full. He yawned. He drank down the orange juice and settled a little lower into the bed closing his eyes.

He felt a warm hand brush against his cheek and over his forehead. "Don't overdo it." She said to him. "I'll be back." He wasn't sure if he made a noise one way or another.

When he opened his eyes he was still alone but the sky had turned dark. He looked at the clock which proclaimed it to be 9:00pm. He sighed as he looked at the bathroom again. This was beginning to get tiring.

This time he was able to drag his sorry ass out of bed and back without any help at all. He managed to crawl back into bed just as Katherine walked in with another tray.

"Hungry?" She asked.

His stomach told him he was. She set the same tray over his legs. "Hope you like chicken teriyaki stir fry with rice." She said as she walked over to an easel. She pulled it from the corner. He hadn't noticed it before, but if he were honest, he hadn't really noticed much about the room at all. The room he was in was overly large and spacious. There was the burgundy couch on the wall opposite the bed that Katherine had slept in every other night but last night. There was a dresser and closet and a mess of cloth and paints that had been hastily shoved into the corner. Katherine took out a canvas that had been sitting propped up on the floor. She studied it for a moment and put it back into place. She picked up a black case and set it on the dresser, she then walked back over to where all of her paints were stashed and she gingerly picked up something. He looked in surprise at the human skull. She looked at it then took it over to the case and placed it in.

He had stopped eating and was staring at her. She walked back over and picked up another skull. He must have made some noise because she looked over her shoulder at him.

"Oh, sorry." She apologized. "I need to return these to the museum eventually and I am finished with these two skulls so I am putting them back in their case."

"And you would need human skulls cause why?" He asked.

She looked at him in shock. "These aren't human," She said with a shake of her head. "They are Neanderthal skulls." She said pronouncing the last syllable as -tall rather than -thall.

"Okay..." He said slowly.

"I'm painting some pieces for the new Neanderthal and Early Modern Man Exhibit for the Natural Museum of History. My Uncle is one of the leading archaeologists who is backing the exhibit. It is revealing new evidence that early Neanderthals and modern humans once interbred. DNA evidence had confirmed it, but they are still working on some theories as to how much and where, all that fun sort of stuff. Anyway, I am taking the skulls and reproducing what they actually looked like and how they may have actually interacted with modern humans. Many Neanderthal representations are quite overly exaggerated at times, so my job is to make them look like how they _did_ look as opposed to how people think they _should_ look."

He studied her as she closed up the case. It would explain why she smelled like paint. "So you're from Canada, but you're here painting for some museum and your Uncle is some arky-something-ologist."

"That's about it. This is my Uncle's house. He is in France trying to find evidence that Neanderthal populations did interbreed in Europe, which is contrary to the DNA evidence that says they interbred in the middle east just as modern humans were coming out of Africa and expanding outward." She said with a shrug as she began packing up her materials. "I'll just get these out of here." She said.

He figured out then that she had been in his room probably every day for 12 now 13 days watching over him and painting.

"Why?" He asked her.

"Why am I taking all of my crap out of here?" She asked him as he nodded.

"Well, because now that you are awake I don't want to be disturbing you while I am painting. I like listening to music while I paint and I don't want to be waking you up if you are sleeping, and I am one of those people who hates not being able to hear what is going on around them so I don't wear ear buds or anything. So I will take all of my crap downstairs where you will be free to just rest in peace and quiet.

To him that sounded like a horrible idea. It meant that he was going to be bored out of his mind, and alone, which was far worse.

"Are you going to paint tonight?" He asked her.

She shook her head. "I can't paint at night with this light. The colours end up all funky. I usually do my sketches at night, or I work on trying to unscramble my Uncle's notes. I just have to figure out where to put my easel, this room had the best light." She shrugged. "Oh well, the library's light isn't half bad." She looked at him. "Is it okay?" She asked in concern.

"The light in the library?" He asked confused.

She looked at him and smiled. "No, sorry, the food, is it okay?" She asked.

He looked down at his food which was half eaten. It was delicious but he had suddenly lost his appetite at the thought of being left alone in this room, of being bored to tears. He felt her hand on his forehead which moved to his cheek. He supposed she was checking for a fever, but her touch was too pleasant, too wonderful.

"If the light is better in here paint in here." He growled as he shoved a forkful of food into his mouth.

She stepped away and assessed him. "Are you sure?" She asked him.

"Didn't seem to bother me before." He said with a shrug as he jammed two more forkfuls of stir fry into his mouth.

"There is a difference between unconscious and sleeping you know." She pointed out to him a paintbrush in her hand. He shrugged (it only hurt a little to do this), and looked down at his now empty pate.

"Would you like some more?" She asked him.

He shook his head. "I'm good." She nodded and put the paintbrush down. She reached over and took his tray. "Are you coming back?" He asked her as she headed for the door.

She looked at him over her shoulder. "I wasn't really planning on it. I thought you would want to rest some more." She said to him.

He was getting drowsy, but he didn't want her to just leave him alone. He frowned at this. _What was his problem anyway?_ He wondered. _Why did he have such a problem with the thought of being alone? Besides being bored?_ He was tired but not ready to sleep, not yet.

"Oh, I should show you what I bought for you. I'll be right back." She said as she walked out of the room to return a few minutes later with her hands full of bags.

"I tried to replace what I ended up wrecking." She told him looking at him like she expected him to be pissed off at her for cutting his clothes off to tend to his injuries and make sure he didn't die.

He blurrily looked down at his hands. "Thank you." He managed to choke out. "You didn't have to."

"Of course I had to. I cut all your clothes off, I had to replace them, and buy you extra clothes so you wouldn't be walking around naked." She said with a shake of her head as she put the bags on the floor.

"I'll..." 'Repay you' was what he was going to say, but then he wondered how he would repay her, for everything? _How did a freak like him work, get money to survive?" He could never repay her, both monetarily or otherwise._ He clutched at his blankets. _But he was damn well going to try._

"So once you feel up to it, you can try this stuff on." She said with a smile. She pulled out five t-shirts all different colours. There was a blue one, a red one, a black one a white one, and a yellow one. Each had different designs on it like skulls, snakes, a few shields, that sort of thing. "I got you a large in all of these so they should fit." She said with a smile as she dug around in another bag. She pulled out 3 pairs of jeans. "I'm glad I checked to see what size your clothes were before I threw them in the garbage." She said. "And I got you boot cut which is what your other jeans were. I also picked you up some sweats." She said adding a deep burgundy pair of sweats to the growing pile of clothes. She had also bought him three hoodies, a brown one, a blue one and an orange one. She also bought him a black jacket to replace the one she said she cut off him when she found him in the dumpster. She said that his other jacket had been a canvas-like material, but she had replaced it with a black leather motorcycle jacket.

She pulled out a box and opened it up. There were a new pair of black boots. "I sorta chucked your other boots cause they were kinda nasty. They smelled really, really bad. So hopefully they fit." She said closing up the box. She then pulled out a big bag. She pulled out a red full face helmet with black tinted visor.

"It isn't the same colour, but it should fit." She said as she placed it over his head. It fit. But he was confused.

"You were wearing a bike helmet when I found you. It was completely trashed. It probably saved your life. It got tossed in the trash with your jacket." She said as she pulled it from his head.

"I also grabbed you some other things, socks, underwear, toothbrush." She said with a shrug as she began packing everything up. She looked at him and smiled. "Get some sleep. I think you pushed yourself a little hard today." She was right. He was exhausted. "How's the pain?" She asked in concern.

"Getting better." He managed to mumble. She nodded and pulled out a bottle of aspirin. She handed him a couple and a glass of water she got from the bathroom.

She settled him down and covered him up making sure he was comfortable.

"Where are you sleeping?" He asked her.

"I'll be right across the hall." She said as she left him to fall into a deep slumber.

Rogue's eyes snapped open as searing agony blazed through his leg. He let out a yelp of pain. He sat up too quickly which just made pain blaze though other parts of his body. He curled into a ball and wanted to weep with pain and frustration.

His door opened, light from the hallway illuminated the bedroom in soft light. Katherine rushed to his bedside. "Rogue?" She asked at she touched his shoulder gently.

The only reply he could give was a whimper of pain. "You over did it." She said softly.

"Leg." He managed to grind out through clenched teeth.

She pulled the blankets off him and looked at his legs. "Muscle cramp." She said with a nod. "Okay you need to relax." She said as she stood and rolled him onto his back. His cramped leg was bent at the knee. She sat down on the bed and placed her hands on his cramped calf. "This will hurt, but it will help." She said softly.

She squeezed his calf hard. He grunted in pain. "Sorry." She apologized as she squeezed harder. The blazing pain began to lessen. She loosened her grip and began to gently massage his calf.

His tensed shoulders began to relax as his pain lessened. He breathed in a relieved breath. But unfortunately now that his leg was beginning to feel better, the rest of his body protested. He felt as if he had been pummelled by a professional boxer.

He found a whimper escaping his mouth. He didn't want to be like this. He didn't want to be this helpless. He was tired of being in constant pain. He was tired of having to rely on Katherine for every tiny thing.

He wanted to lash out at her in anger. _He didn't need her pity, he didn't need her help! _Only his body wouldn't obey him as he tried to push her away. He felt her arms go around his shoulders in comfort and she leaned into him pulling him closer. He leaned his head upon her chest and tried to stop the tears of frustration and pain from falling.

"It's okay you know." She said gently. "I know it's frustrating. I know you want to be better right now and have all the pain vanish. But healing takes time. Everything takes time." He could feel her smile. "I wish that blank white canvas was covered in paint and showed a beautiful picture, but I have to wait. Each layer of paint must dry before the next can be applied. Waiting is hard. I know it chafes you to be dependant, but being able to count on someone to help out when you need it, is not such a bad thing." She said softly as she pulled away. "Sometimes someone's greatest strength is not how strong they are, but knowing when they need help from someone else."

She smiled at him as he looked at her. He had too many questions too many worries. She turned serious. "I'm not going to tell you that everything is going to be fine, because I don't know if it is. I'm not going to tell you that you are going to get your memory back tomorrow, because I don't know when or if your memory will return. All you can do is just be patient." She said to him.

He growled low in his throat. He got the feeling that he was not the patient type, but closed his eyes and gave a curt nod trying to control his anger at his situation.

"Does your leg feel better?" She asked gently.

"Yeah." He whispered.

She nodded and studied him.

"I'll do your other leg." She said as she reached over and gently began massaging his other leg. His anger died as he looked at her in shock. "It makes sense. You haven't used your muscles in almost two weeks. Straining them this much all at once without stretching them would cause them to cramp." She said with a shake of her head.

Her hands moved up from his calf and began slowly massaging his thigh. He swallowed as she watched her hands. He looked at her to judge if this was affecting her as much as it was affecting him. He closed his eyes and tried to ignore her and think about anything but what she was doing to him. He felt her move on to the thigh of the leg that had cramped. He smelled the scent of flowers very close to his nostrils. He opened his eyes as she leaned into him. He tried to reached up to grasp her around the waist, but paused as she ran her hands delicately down his arms. "Your arms are bruised the worst. I'll try to be gentle." She said as she massaged his biceps and then forearms of both arms.

Her hands gently massaged the muscles of his shoulders. He felt the loss of her touch and scent as she moved away. He moved his arms and let out a gasp of pain.

Katherine walked back to the bed and frowned at him. She shook her head and sighed. "I'll make you a deal. You be a good little turtle and let me help you tomorrow when you need help, and I will be your heating pillow again tonight, deal?" She asked him.

He clenched his teeth together in pain. "Deal." He said shakily.

"And funny business clause is still in effect, got it." He nodded as she slid in beside him.

He relaxed as she pushed herself into him. It was then he realized that she was only in her underwear and a light t-shirt. Her bare legs pushed up against his. She pulled his arm around her and covered his arm with her own.

Awareness blazed through him.

He just wished he wasn't so damn broken at the moment or else he figured he would be enjoying himself immensely.

"Goodnight Rogue. Try to get some sleep." She said with a yawn.

"Katherine..." He began, but cut his question off.

"Yes?" She asked him as if knowing what he was going to ask was going to be hard for him.

"Nothin." He said as he closed his eyes. But he could still feel her looking at him, and he knew she wasn't going to roll back into him unless he asked his question. "Do you think anyone is looking for me? Do you think anyone misses me?" He wondered softly.

"I don't know." She said truthfully. "But..." She frowned. "I took you two hours away from where I found you. If there is anyone looking for you, they won't be able to find you." She said in a worried voice as she rolled back into him.

He unconsciously clutched her closer. "Doesn't matter." He said with a shake of his head.

"Rogue..." She began.

"Go to sleep Katherine." He said as he closed his eyes.


	7. Chapter 7

**This chapter is a little short, but hopefully the content makes up for it.**

**Also thank you to Rocky181 for reviewing! =) I love reviews!**

Chapter 7

**Donatello** watched his older brother as he knelt in front of the two markers that had been set up. For two years there had only been one marker, now there were two. The first had been for Master Splinter, the second, for Raphael.

He watched as Leonardo lit a stick of incense and sat silently in front of the two markers, each bearing the names of beloved family members.

It had been a month since Raphael's death, and his subsequent memorial. It had been quiet and small, with only themselves and Casey and April in attendance. Leonardo had read out the eulogy.

_"Raphael was..." Leonardo paused as he closed his eyes in grief. "Raph and I didn't get along all the time, or agree on everything, but he was my brother and I loved him. You could always count on him to be the first one in for a fight. He would always protect us and would take a hit if it meant saving a brother or a friend. I just..." Leonardo stopped as he tried to compose himself. "Forgive me Raph, for not being there to save you." He choked out._

_ April and Casey had both said a few words, he himself had mumbled out something he couldn't even remember, and Michelangelo hadn't been able to speak he was so choked up with grief._

Each morning he would wake up and think that it had all been a bad dream; think that he would walk into the kitchen and Raphael would be there jamming food into his mouth and picking on Michelangelo. But each morning he woke up and encountered a silent kitchen. He and his brothers rarely spoke anymore. It wasn't as if they meant to or were doing it purposefully, it was more, each of them was still too buried in grief to do anything besides eat and sleep, and sometimes, not even that.

These days Michelangelo was more angry, as if railing against the world for taking his brother away. Leonardo was thinner, older, more sickly looking. Dark circles were permanently smudged under his eyes, deep lines of grief carved around those same eyes and into his forehead.

Leonardo stood and looked at him. The guilt he saw in his brother's eyes nearly broke him. Leonardo blamed himself. He believed that if he had have just let Raphael go, instead of fighting with him first, that his brother would have come back alive.

Donatello didn't know if this was true, but he knew that Leonardo should not blame himself.

"Leo," He said softly as he began the same conversation he had been having with his older brother for the last month. "It wasn't your fault."

Leonardo's eyes narrowed angrily. "Of course it's my fault Donny! If I had just let him be, let him walk out that door to have a little bit of time alone on the rooftops, none of this would have happened!" He yelled. "Then he wouldn't have stormed out of here on his bike and I wouldn't have said..." His brother's voice choked on his last words. Because the last words spoken in anger to his brother, were words that Leonardo could never take back. "He's dead because of me. He died alone because I said I didn't care. We didn't even have a body to bury. Instead our brother's body is buried in some landfill, as if he was worth no more than a piece of trash." His voice hitched. "And all I can hope, is that he was dead before he made it into the dumpster. I have to wish and hope that my own brother was dead, because the thought that he was alive and aware when that truck compacted..." He shook his head as he watched his brother's face turn a sick shade of grey. Donatello felt his own stomach roll at the thought. "And all I can do is sit in front of that damn wooden marker and pray that one day, Raph will forgive me." He whispered as he turned away.

"Where are you going." He asked as his brother pulled on his jacket.

"Out." Came the gruff reply.

"Leo..." He began.

"Just leave me alone Donny, I'm just going to April and Casey's building." He said as he quietly left the lair.

Donatello frowned at his brother's retreating back. Leonardo had refused to let any of them out of the lair unless there was someone to accompany them. But right now, Leonardo was breaking his own rule.

He sighed and went to find Michelangelo. Michelangelo used to goof off, smile, relax, watch TV and play Video games, but now all their brother did was train. Michelangelo now trained at all hours of the day and night, getting stronger, faster, better. In fact Donatello wouldn't be surprised if Michelangelo had surpassed Leonardo. Especially now. Leonardo still trained, but it was if his heart was no longer in it.

He watched as he brother beat on the heavy bag in the corner. He would almost have thought that the angry rage filled punches and kicks landing on the gently swaying bag were given by his lost brother, but instead, Michelangelo pummelled the bag angrily.

"Leo go out?" Michelangelo asked as he punched the bag one last time and looked at him.

Donatello wasn't sure if he could get used to the continuous anger and hardness that now resided in Michelangelo's eyes. "Yeah." He said softly.

"Bastard isn't even obeying his own rules." He said as he angrily strode from the training area.

Donatello frowned as he grabbed Michelangelo stopping him. "Mikey," He looked into his brother's angry eyes. He was shocked at his language and attitude towards Leonardo. "You don't actually blame Leo do you?" He asked in question.

Michelangelo looked away. He blew out a puff of air and his shoulders momentarily slumped. "I don't blame him for Raph's death." He said shrugging off his hand. "But I blame him for not trying to find the bastards that killed him."

He looked at Michelangelo in shock. "Mikey, revenge won't bring Raph back." He said softly.

"I know that Donny, but it is what Raph would have wanted." Michelangelo growled at him.

He frowned. Unfortunately he couldn't argue with Michelangelo. If it had have been any of them that had been killed, Raphael would have been the first one out getting a nice sized piece of revenge for a lost sibling. "But Mikey," He began but didn't really know what to say.

Michelangelo strode past him. He followed him in to the garage that also served as his workshop/laboratory.

He stopped at his workbench and looked at the toaster that still sat unfinished. He felt tears come to his eyes as he sensed his brother approach him.

He clenched his fists together. He felt Michelangelo turn him and pull him into a tight hug. The tears that he had held in check finally fell, because he had been the one who hadn't wept because someone had needed to keep their shattered family together. And he was doing horrible job. "I didn't even..." His voice hitched in pained remembrance. "I didn't even pay any attention to him when he left. I was too busy tinkering and I asked him if he was okay, but I don't even know if he answered me. I didn't even watch him as he left. I just...I didn't think that it would be the last time I'd ever see him. If...I should have tried to stop him, but I didn't know Mikey, I didn't know." He said wildly shaking his head as the tears rolled over his cheeks wetting his purple mask.

"I have to do this Donny." Michelangelo said softly. "I have to find out who killed Raph, and then..." He stopped talking.

"Then what Mikey?" He questioned as he pulled back and looked at his brother.

"And then they will pay." He finished softly as he strode away. He hopped into their truck, started up the engine and drove away.

Donatello looked at Raphael's bike. It was completely repaired and covered under a tarp. But no one would ever ride it again. His heart clenched in sorrow.

He listened to the quiet of the lair and a sudden fear rose up in him, that he would be the last of his brothers, that his other brothers were not going to make it home safe and he would be left all alone. He wondered then if this was what his brother had felt. Known that he was going to die all alone. He fell to the floor as another wave of grief engulfed him. All he could do was sit and wait and hope that his brothers came back.

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><p><strong>Leonardo<strong> looked out into the night. He was sitting atop April and Casey's apartment building. He hadn't wanted to talk to them, but knowing they were close was somehow comforting.

He looked down to the street below. Sometimes he wondered what it would feel like to just slip forward and fall. His brother had fallen four stories to his death. It was possible that he was still alive when he hit the dumpster, or the fall could have killed him. Maybe the beating had killed him, or maybe the garbage truck had finished him off. He closed his eyes and tried to turn his thoughts away from the punishment he deserved for causing his brother's death. No matter how many times Donatello tried to convince him that it wasn't his fault, he knew in his heart that he was responsible for his brother's death.

He felt a presence behind him. He drew his blades quickly because even though he deserved to die, it wouldn't be at the hands of his enemies.

"Stand down Leonardo, I do not intend to fight you." He heard Karai's voice say to him.

He slowly sheathed his swords and looked at her. "What do you want Karai?" He asked in a harsh voice. He knew she didn't deserve his anger, but he did not wish for company.

"I have been searching for you Leonardo. You and you brothers have been absent of late." She said to him and she continued when he didn't reply. "I suppose the rumours are true then, one of your brothers has met his end at the hands of the Purple Dragons?" Leonardo did not reply but nodded curtly. "I see." She said softly. She bowed to him. "I am sorry for your loss. I know how hard it is to lose someone you love." She said softly. "Have you found the ones who killed your brother?" She asked.

He shook his head. "I haven't looked." He said softly. "I'd like to kill them all. Find them and make them suffer for taking Raph's life, but...It will not bring him back, and it will not ease the grief in my heart." He said softly.

Karai paused but nodded. She had her own instances of thirsting for revenge, usually against them. "Revenge burns sweetly, but can never fill the hole that was made by grief. But are you sure all of your brother's feel this way?"

Leonardo looked at her in confusion.

"My ninja tell me that your youngest brother, Michelangelo, has been out tracking Purple Dragons and attempting to gain information from them. You had best watch out lest you lose another brother." She warned, and then was gone.

Fear crawled and danced its way across his skin. He ran across the rooftops as he made his way home to see if his baby brother was indeed setting himself on the dark path of revenge.

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><p><strong>I know, I know I apologize for the shortness of this chapter, but the next one will be longer! Hope you enjoyed this one though!<strong>


	8. Chapter 8

**A big thank you to Outasync for your awesome review! **

**I hope everyone enjoys!**

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><p><span>Chapter 8<span>

**Rogue** opened his eyes as he felt Katherine enter his room. Even after two weeks of having her walking into his room in the morning, he still found himself reaching under his pillow to grab his sai that he had placed there. He frowned at himself and removed his hand from his weapon.

He glanced at the clock which, contrary to the bright light that spilled through the window into his room, proclaimed it to be 7:06 am, which in his opinion was too damn early.

He stifled a groan. But it was his own fault. He had been the one who had insisted she still use the room. He just hadn't known that she was such an early riser. And chipper. She was one of those morning people, the ones who don't drink coffee, but rise bright and happy and fully awake anyway. He, on the other hand, was not a morning person. He didn't know if it was because he was injured or if this was simply a part of his personality, but whatever the case was, he didn't do mornings.

He closed his eyes as he attempted to get comfortable again. Although he had to admit he did find her presence comforting. He had discovered that she was a creature of habit. She had a routine. Each day she would softly walk into his room and sit on a heavy antique wooden chair of some sort. She would usually have her sketchpad with her. But she wouldn't play her music, not until he was actually ready to get up, but if this bothered her she didn't show it. For the first few days after saying that she could still work in the room while he slept, he had watched her. He had been curious if she was being polite when he didn't see her standing at her easel, blaring music and painting up a storm.

So he had watched her through hooded lids wondering what she was doing. And truthfully he still didn't know. Sometimes she would sketch something on her sketch pad, a pencil tucked behind her ear, another gripped between her teeth. Other times she would be sprawled over the chair, feet dangling, just sitting there staring at the ceiling. Other times she would be studying a skull in her hands, but not sketching or doing anything but looking at it.

At the moment she was sprawled in the chair staring at the ceiling. He was starting to wonder if it was an artist thing, like giving herself a mental warm up before she began with her painting, because when she began painting, nothing intruded.

He had discovered that although she was good at multitasking in general, she could not paint and hold a conversation at the same time. Only when she wasn't painting could he talk with her. And he didn't think it was because she couldn't do it, it was more she was so focused on what she was doing that she literally couldn't hear him. It had taken him a bit to realize this. A few questions that were ignored and a few angry words yelled to break through to her. He had felt embarrassed when he realized she hadn't been ignoring him, but rather she could not hear anything, including the music that was playing. In fact if he asked he what song was playing if he didn't recognize it, she would stare at him blankly for a few minutes as if her brain needed time to catch up to what was going on around her. He had asked her why she listened to music if she didn't even hear it, she had told him that sometimes she could hear it, but that she liked the background noise. He had wondered then why she didn't wear the ear buds since she couldn't hear anything anyway, but understood that anything that fell into regular background noise she couldn't hear, but other noises, like the phone ringing or a bird outside the window, she could, and she would stop what she was doing and answer the phone or listen to the bird until it flew away.

He was rather in awe at her ability to focus so completely, even if it was annoying at times, but he found it equally interesting on how scatterbrained she seemed to be the rest of the time.

She would come upstairs at times and look at him blankly as if she had completely forgotten what she was doing, then usually trudge back downstairs only to come back up a moment later when she remembered what she had come upstairs for in the first place. Other times she would be rifling through all of her sketches looking for something. When he would ask her what she was looking for she would shrug and tell him she had no idea, but she would know it when she saw it.

And yet with all of her absentmindedness, she was incredibly astute and intelligent. She seemed to know what he was thinking or if he needed something before he even knew he wanted it or needed it. She was funny and witty and always had a smile on her face, and she never treated him as if he were a burden or different, which he was thankful for, because he had discovered, he was a very bad patient.

He was cranky, combative, belligerant, and resentful. He wanted to be better two weeks ago. He would push himself too hard and end up worse the next day than he had been the previous one. daily he had tried to start an argumant with her, but she tented to ignore him, or just shake her head and ask him question after irritating question until he couldn't actually remember what it was he had been angry about in the first place, which left him feeling like an idiot. One time he had begun a fight over her not letting him leave the room. He could barely get out of bed but he needed to get out of the niely furnished room just so he could see something different. Paintbrush in hand she had advanced on him. "_I'll tell you what, you stop me from paintig a mostache on your face, and I will let you out of here_." She had challenged. He had agreed figuring he would be able to keep her away from his face, but he hadn't been able to stop her and he had ended up with a nice blue, curly, villain mustache on his face.

He grudgingly admitted to himself that it was because of her relentless persistance that he stay still and heal, that he was now able to go to the bathroom by himself, have a shower by himself and walk for short distances. He would still get exhausted if he walked or stood for long periods of time, but he knew he was getting better, all thanks to her.

He snuggled deeper into the covers and admitted to himself that as annoying as he found her sometimes, he needed her. After she had offered herself up as a heated pillow she hadn't made the offer again. Although he was still in pain, it wasn't as overwhelming as it had been that night, though he probably could have worked through it. The thing was, he had needed her company more than he needed the warmth of her body.

His mind was screaming at him to fight against the pain, take charge and push himself to his limit. That the pain was only in his head and that he could move past it. He raged at himself for being such a wuss. And yet at the same time, his body protested against the pain, and his hormones protested against him being such a moron and to just sit back and enjoy being waited on and pampered by a beautiful woman whose soft touch made him ache with a different kind of need.

"Good morning Rogue." He heard her say. He gave a grunt of acknowledgement as she chuckled.

She knew his routine. He would wake up when she entered the room, then he would fall back to sleep until around noon, where he would crawl out of bed, shower and she would have breakfast waiting for him when he finished. Yesterday he had showered more quickly than normal hoping to make it out of the room before she returned with his breakfast. He had managed to make it to the stairway that led down to the main level. Unfortunately the stairs were wooden, steep, and narrow. He knew if he even attempted them, he would just end up a broken mess at the bottom. So he had trudged back to his room and fallen back into bed.

Rogue woke up several hours later and yawned rubbing his eyes. He looked to where Katherine was sketching wildly at her sketch pad.

She glanced at him, studied him for a second and then went back to what she was doing.

He rolled out of bed and trudged to the bathroom. He used the toilet and then had a quick, and thankfully only slightly painful shower. He looked at himself in the mirror. Most of his bruises looked to have finally disappeared. His bandages were all gone. He grabbed the red band of fabric and deftly tied it around his eyes. He wasn't sure why, but he felt naked without it. He pulled on his underwear and sweats and opened the door. Katherine was still sprawled in the chair, but she had stopped sketching. She was staring at the ceiling in thought.

He looked at his bed and saw the tray with his breakfast sitting on it. He smiled as his stomach rumbled. "Morning." He said to Katherine as he crawled back into bed and pulling the tray over his knees.

Katherine gave him a smile and stood.

Rogue turned his attention to his breakfast. Today it was French toast, complete with icing sugar and maple syrup. His stomach rumbled some more. He eagerly began digging into his food. If Katherine kept feeding him like she was, he was going to get fat. But he figured he was making up for the nearly two weeks that he had been unconscious.

"Thanks Katherine." He said as he began digging in. It wasn't his fault that the woman could cook. It wasn't fancy, no things with sauces or ingredients he couldn't pronounce and didn't even know, very meat and potatoes, but that was fine with him.

He shovelled that last forkful of French toast into his mouth and sighed in contentment.

"So?" She asked him.

"Delicious as usual." He said with a smile.

She frowned at him in confusion.

"Well thank you, but that wasn't what I was asking you." She said with a shake of her head.

"Oh, sorry, what was the question?" He asked as he took a gulp of orange juice.

"I asked you if you found me attractive?" She asked him, hip cocked to the side, arms crossed over her chest.

He almost spit out his orange juice which meant when he swallowed, some of it went down the wrong hole. He began hacking and coughing.

"Are you okay?" She asked him as he tried to take a breath and still couldn't. He nodded and took another drink to try to stop hacking. "Sorry, I didn't mean to disgust you." She said softly.

He looked at her in shock wildly shaking his head in denial. He coughed a few more times before he was able to finally talk. "What!" He asked in shock.

She frowned at him and tipped her head to the side as she studied him. "You didn't hear a word I said did you?" She said to him. "Ha, you can't bug me about completely tuning you out while painting because you can't hear anything when you eat."

"Not true." He said in denial. He normally ate and talked to her, but he had been lost in his own thoughts today.

"Okay then, what was I talking about?" She asked him.

He blushed. "You were askin' me if I thought you were hot." He said as he intently studied his empty plate.

He heard her huff out a breath as she looked at him. He looked up at her. She shook her head. "You weren't listening."

He mentally reviewed what she had said and was pretty sure she had just asked him if he was attracted to her.

"I was wondering," She picked up two skulls. One looked familiar. He recognized it as the Neanderthal skull she had nicknamed 'Luc'. The other skull looked different, it looked like a human skull but he wasn't sure anymore. All he knew was that they kind of gave him the creeps. He made sure she packed them away each night. He wasn't scared of them, but he felt uncomfortable with their black empty sockets looking at him when he was trying to sleep. "What kind of story do I have?" She said as she looked at both skulls.

He frowned. "Story?" He asked in confusion.

"I am trying to figure out their story." She said hefting both skulls up and pointing them at him. He frowned in confusion. "Every picture needs a story. You know the saying. A picture is worth a thousand words?" He nodded. "Well that is because a picture is supposed to convey something. So in this case I am trying to figure out their story. If I don't, all I'll end up with is blank glassy-eyed figures, like what you see in museums when they have those creepy mannequins dressed up like whoever they are supposed to be."

"So you need a story to paint?" He asked her.

She nodded. "You see, I am trying to figure out why a Neanderthal would mate with a human and vice versa." She said to him. "I mean why?"

He looked at the two skulls and frowned. He did see a difference between them, but he didn't really know how that would relate to what they actually looked like. He thought Neanderthals looked like big browed, slouched over cavemen. But according to Katherine and the pictures of other representations she had shown him, they looked pretty human to him.

Rogue shrugged. "What does it matter, they both look human what would be the difference?" He asked.

Katherine frowned in thought. "Yes, but...It still doesn't explain why? I mean as far as the evidence goes they didn't really interbreed a lot, which is another question we don't know the answer to. So why did those who did, do it?" She wondered.

"I still don't see why the why is important." He said to her.

Katherine studied him. He swallowed. It wasn't that he thought that she was irritated or angry with him, but sometimes she had a way of looking at him like she was trying to read into his very soul. "Well," She began. "I suppose that is the job of Archaeologists and Anthropologists. Asking the question: Why? Why do humans, or non-humans do the things that they do. That is kinda the point." She said with a smile. "And I think the realistic answer is that we have no idea. I mean we can't even begin to try to figure out how someone thousands if not millions of years ago thought, but I suppose we try to anyway. Most of the time the evidence is so sketchy and incomplete you can get various hypothesis from just one dig, because things can be totally random. There is no way of knowing if you are right or not."

"So why bother?" He asked in confusion.

Katherine shrugged. "Why bother trying to figure out why the universe is the way it is?" She asked. "I suppose the answer is, because we can." She said with a smile.

He looked at her in confusion. "Okay I know it sounds ridiculous but let's just say that by creating a story, you learn about yourself as well as possibly someone who has been gone for a very long time. For example. Let's pretend that this room has become an archaeological dig site. Say a random event happened, say, a mud slide. This house is buried under thousands of meters worth of mud. And say I was sitting on the bed with you." She walked over and sat on the bed next to him moving his tray out of the way. "And say you and I heard rumbling and I freak out because I am scared it is an earthquake and I latch onto you in fright." She wrapped herself around him. He had no idea where she was going with this, but so far he didn't mind.

"Okay, so we suddenly see a wall of mud, and there is no way we can run and escape so you," She pulled him back so he was laying on the bed. "Being the gentleman that you are, try to shield me with your body even though you know we are both going to die." She lay down and pulled him so that he was partially laying on her. "Okay now hold onto me like you mean it." She said as she clutched him close. She didn't have to ask him twice. He held her in his arms tightly.

"So then we die, clinging together like we are, and a thousand years later someone is digging a foundation to a building and come across us like this. We are nothing but bones, our clothes are gone." He looked at her secretly hoping she was also going to start taking her clothes off, but much to his disappointment she didn't. "There isn't much of the room left. Maybe some wood indicating that we were laying on a bed. Perhaps some of the textiles from the sheets survived. The paints are all gone, the easel and canvases have rotted away. Walls are gone, the bottom floor of the house is crushed beneath us. So what do people or whatever is digging us up 1000 years later think of us?" She questioned him. Rogue tried to think straight as he held her in his arms the flowery scent of her filling his nostrils. He shook his head.

"Well they would probably wonder what you were, unless they have figured that one out already." She began.

He snorted."Yeah well, that's one I would like to know too." Rogue said shaking his head.

Katherine smiled at him. "I know." She said softly. "Anyway back to our tragic death in each other's arms." She said pulling him closer.

He didn't like the tragic death thing, but he hoped whatever she was getting at took a long time to explain because he was enjoying the soft feel of her skin. She was wearing a tight pink t-shirt and a pair of cut-off jean shorts, but there was still a lot of skin to touch.

"So they would first wonder: Were we dead before we were buried, or was this the result of a horrible natural disaster? And if they knew about the mudslide, they may know that yes we died in the mudslide. So the next question would be: What were we doing? What was our relationship? Were we friends, foes, lovers? Did we have a sexual relationship, could we have a sexual relationship? Could we have children? All sorts of questions like that just from us laying on this bed for a split second in time together." She said looking at him in the eyes. "So you can see how certain things could be misconstrued." She said to him.

"Huh?" He said stupidly. His mind had stalled and everything else she had said got a little muffled when she began talking about them being lovers. He looked down at her and imagined he was making love to this woman who had saved his life. Lust and desire rushed through him.

"So that is why I need a story. I want to recreate one moment in time where they were real, where a situation could have happened and they were together." Her eyes widened and he thought for a moment that she realized that he desired her, that he was a hairs breath away from claiming her lips in a kiss, and hoping he could actually kiss her. "That's it!" She exclaimed as she smiled at him with a grateful smile that left him stunned. "It's perfect, thank you Rogue!" She said giving him a quick kiss on the cheek and wiggling out from beneath him. He sat up letting her go. "I'll have them meeting by happenstance. Perhaps bad weather and they have sought shelter in the same place." Her eyes were lit with excitement. "Now all I have to figure out is the composition." She waved this thought away. "I've got some running around to do." She said as she grabbed his tray from his bed. "Any food requests?" she asked him.

He blinked at her rapidly moving change in topics. He shook his head to clear it and get himself under some sort of control. "Any idea what you would want for dinner?" She asked him.

It was on the tip of his tongue to reply 'You'. But he managed to restrain himself.

"Never mind I have a great idea. I'll be back soon!" She said as she strode from his room. He stared at the open doorway and wondered what the hell had just happened. He flopped back down on the bed and instantly regretted the action. "Ouch." He said to himself as he lay there for a moment. "To answer your question, yes." He said softly as he contemplated the whirlwind that was Katherine.


	9. Chapter 9

**Long chapter, wow long chapter, I apologize! But hopefully everone enjoys.=)**

**Thank you to Rocky181, Chibiwolf33 and forgottenforever for your awesome support and reviews!**

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><p><span>Chapter 9<span>

Rogue shook his head as Katherien left his room. She fascinated him. There was something else, something that made him want to spend every waking moment with her. He frowned at himself. He lifted up a hand and looked at his palm studying his green flesh.

"As if she would ever look at him as something other than some sort of freak of nature." He grumbled to himself. "Come on Rogue, look at her. She's beautiful, smart, and she makes borin' stuff seem interestin'. You don't have a hope in hell that she would ever want to be with you, so just concentrate on getting better and rememberin' who the hell you are." He grumbled to himself.

He sat back up and looked at the chair Katherine was normally sprawled in. He frowned as he noticed she had left her sketchbook. She never forgot her sketchbook. He had noticed that she guarded the damn thing like some kind of schoolgirl's diary. He didn't know why she cared that he might see what she was sketching, since she didn't seem to mind him watching her paint. His curiosity was peaked. He wondered if she was just a really bad sketcher, or if she just made doodles in her sketchbook.

He listened to the house carefully. He heard the crunch of tires on the gravel driveway. He slowly got out of bed and walked to the window. He saw Katherine leave in a beat up little blue car of some sort. He slowly made his way over to the sketchbook and looked at it. He knew he really shouldn't but... He picked up the book. After all she would never know. He lowered himself carefully into the chair she usually used. He started at the beginning. There were sketches of things he supposed you would find in an artist's sketchbook. There were sketches of a flower, a bird, a cat, some landscape scenes, all very well done, but mostly unfinished, as if she either got bored or had completed enough of the sketch and was satisfied with it. There were also sketches of 'Luc' as he would have looked like alive. As well as sketches of the other 3 Neanderthals. There were also what he assumed were 'composition' pictures which were no more than stick figures arranged in a certain way. He hit blank pages after the final sketch of 'Luc'.

He frowned. "Not understandin the big deal." He said shaking his head and flipping from back to front. It was then he found more sketches. These ones were near the back of the sketchbook. He opened the book to the first sketch. It seemed to be a study of an arm, specifically his arm. He looked down at his left arm. She had copied it exactly, every scar, and every bandage he had had, was rendered perfectly in grey and white.

He flipped to the next page which was a close-up of his carapace and side. There was a sketch of his leg, his foot, his chest, but it was the sketches of his face that made him catch his breath in awe and embarrassment.

The first sketch was of his face, it was half completed. She had gotten the shape of his head but it was his eyes she had spent considerable time on. His pain filled eyes looked back at him from the page. He flipped to the next page and the next. There were more sketches of the expressions on his face. Pain, anger, confusion, determination, worry, a slight smile. But it wasn't these sketches than made him catch his breath. It was the last two she had drawn that he looked at in first of the sketches was him looking straight on, a look of utter and total loss on his face. As if he had nothing and no one in the world and the horror was just beginning to fill his eyes as he realized he didn't know who he was, and that he was completely alone.

He flipped to the next page and looked at his face that was tilted as if looking at something out of the corner of his eye, his face turned slightly off to the side. But it was the look in his eyes that made him gasp. The look in his eyes could only be described as hungry, but not hungry for food hungry. His eyes were filled with lust, and desire and enough heat that he was surprised the page hadn't begun to smoke.

He blushed hard. But underneath this lust and heat there was another emotion she had somehow captured within his eyes. It was a softer, deeper emotion that he had a hard time identifying. He stared at himself for a few moments trying to figure out what the emotion was, and then it hit him. Need. That was the emotion. He was looking at her with a need that was more than just the fact that she was the only one he knew. This need was something deeper, more heartfelt, as if she was his world, had somehow become his world.

He shook his head. There was no way he was looking at her like that. Was there? He frowned as he contemplated Katherine. She was smart, funny, sweet, and she hadn't kicked him out on his ass yet. She had nursed him back from the brink of death for nearly two weeks, and then had to put up with him for these last two. He had been grouchy, and angry. He had tried to fight with her, but she wouldn't let him. She was patient with him and she was helping him learn things about himself since he couldn't remember a damn thing. He didn't even know what he liked and disliked.

And he was trying so hard to remember who he was, but every time he tried to remember all he would get for his efforts was a throbbing headache. But she never pushed him, and she never told him that he was going to remember soon either. She never gave him any sort of false hope, and for some reason he respected that. He liked that she told him how it was, instead of offering him lies just to make him feel better.

He looked back at the sketchbook in his hands and closed it. He didn't really know what to feel about the fact that she had been sketching him obviously while he had been completely unconscious. Though he decided he really didn't care about that, at least she hadn't drawn him naked. Besides, what else was she supposed to do while she sat there and watched him? It was the other sketches that bothered him. The ones she had done while he was obviously awake, but those ones she had drawn from memory, and he didn't know how he felt about how she was able to capture all of his emotions and feelings so well even drawing them later.

Rogue stood up and put the sketchbook exactly where he had found it. He just hoped she wouldn't ask him about it because he didn't think he would be able to lie to her and tell her that he hadn't touched it.

He looked around the room and wondered what he could do until Katherine got back. The house was oddly quiet when Katherine wasn't around. Being out in the country there wasn't any city noise to remind him that there was a throng of humanity just outside his door.

He grabbed Katherine's ipod and speakers and sat back down in bed. He put it beside him and scrolled through her playlists. He had learned that Katherine's musical tastes were all over the map. She would be listening to the rapping of Eminem, then the next song would be the soft crooning of Elvis Presley, to a bubble gum pop song, to Black Sabbath, to some 40's song and then a little Nine Inch Nails followed by some celticy sounding song, to Marilyn Manson with a sprinkling of country and classical music in there just to round things out.

He on the other hand was not that diverse. He seemed to favour the heavy metal, the rap and didn't seem to mind some of the alternative stuff thrown in there. He selected his playlist and set it to random, then looked at his nightstand. There was a pile of books that Katherine dug out of her suitcase, but he had discovered he didn't seem to enjoy reading. Katherine did, but she said she hadn't had the time lately. He stared at the ceiling and grimaced. He felt like he wanted to do something. He looked at his biceps. He probably wanted to work out. He knew you didn't get the muscle tone he had just sitting around doing nothing. He grabbed a manga from the pile of books. At least this he could read and enjoy. It was one about a lone samurai warrior. At least there were lots of fight scenes to keep him interested.

He finished the comic and looked at the clock. Katharine had been gone about an hour, so he knew she still wouldn't be back anytime soon.

He rolled out of bed and wondered if he could try doing some stretches, maybe some push ups. He stretched, he did a few push ups and grabbed the sai from underneath his pillow. He stared at it as he changed his grip a few times. He knew how to use it, but he wondered what had happened to his other sai, since they came as a paired weapon. His other hand felt naked. He lashed out a quick snap kick. Pain blazed through him.

He grimaced. "Damn it." He grumbled as he limped back to the bed. He blew out a frustrated breath, but grinned. He was getting better, and doing physical activity felt good. He looked at the clock and frowned. Katherine had been gone over 2 hours which was unusual.

He waited another half hour and begun to pace even though his leg burned he ignored the pain.

Finally he heard the crunch of tires on gravel. He blew out a relieved breath. He looked out the window and saw a police car drive up. He ducked out of sight but kept an eye on the police cruiser. It pulled up to the door. The bedroom window was open so he was able to hear what was going on. A police officer got out of the passenger side door and walked to the back of the cruiser. He opened the door and reached into the backseat pulling someone out. He gasped in shock as he looked at Katherine. The first thought that came to his mind was that she had been arrested until he saw how the officer was holding her, which to him, seemed overly familiar. He briefly wondered if somehow this policeman was her boyfriend.

"Are you sure you are alright?" The officer asked her in concern. He looked to be in his mid twenties with dark hair and a tan. He was handsome and muscular. The officer was blocking his view of Katherine, all could see was the top of her head.

"Yes Officer Hendricks." She said brightly.

"Sam, please." He said to her.

Rage roared through Rogue. All he could see was red as the officer helped her to the steps of the house blocking his view of Katherine. He could no longer see either of them, but he could still hear them.

"Samuel?" She asked in question.

"Yeah." He said in what sounded like embarrassment.

"Let's go Sam!" The driver of the cruiser said with irritation.

"Just a sec Mike. Are you positive. I don't like thinking of a pretty little thing like you out here all alone by yourself."

Rogue heard Katherine chuckle. "I'm a big girl. I'll be fine."

Rogue tried to control his breathing. He closed the window so he wouldn't have to hear the cop flirting with her anymore.

He walked to the door in a blind all consuming rage. He didn't even realize that he was going downstairs until he had made it to the main floor. He could see Katherine's silhouette in the fogged glass of the door as well as the shadow of the cop. "Here's my number if you need anything. It is my direct line. Okay?"

"Thank you Samuel." Katherine said softly.

He saw the officer's shadow retreat and heard the slam of the car door and the crunch of gravel as the cruiser drove away.

Rogue clenched and unclenched his fists in anger as he watched the doorknob turn.

Katherine stumbled in. He took two steps towards her and felt the blood drain from his face as he looked at her. She was pale and had blood on her face that looked like it had been partially wiped away, but remnants streaked down the left side her cheek.

She was holding her arm carefully to her side and limping. "What the hell happened?" He asked her in worry as he wrapped her in his arms. All thoughts of the anger he had felt only moments before evaporated.

"Car accident." She said softly as she leaned her head into his shoulder.

"What!" He asked in surprise. "Are you okay?" He asked her in concern.

"I'm still alive, so I suppose so." She grumbled into his neck. "They wanted me to go to the hospital but I told them I was fine, and since I was very coherent and didn't have any broken bones or a concussion, they let me go. My uncle's car was trashed so the officers at the scene were nice enough to drive me home since I told them that I didn't have a ride. The tow truck should be here in a few minutes. I didn't really know what to do with my uncle's car. I mean, it is a total write off, but I had them tow it here anyway." She said to him.

Katherine pulled out of his arms at the sound of a truck driving up the driveway. Rogue stepped into the shadows of the house as Katherine went to tell the tow truck driver where to put the mangled piece of metal that he brought into the yard.

Rogue looked at what was left of the car in horror. The entire driver's side and front end were caved in being nothing so much as a mass of twisted metal and glass.

Rogue felt his vision waver and felt himself pale. She could have died. Hell he couldn't believe that she was up and walking around. Rage burned through him. Katherine came through the door with some grocery bags in her hands.

She dropped the bags on the floor and closed her eyes. He caught her before she fell. "I'm fine." She grumbled.

"You are damn well not fine! Why the hell didn't you go to the hospital?" He roared at her.

"I'm fine." She said pulling away from him. "I'm just a little sore. I'll probably feel it more tomorrow. I was lucky I was wearing my jacket." She said with a shake of her head. "I need some tweezers and a needle and thread." She said as she walked down the hall. She opened a linen closet and pulled out a first aid kit. It was then he noticed the pool of blood beginning to form on her light tan coat, right at her hip.

"Katherine." He began but she strode past him and into the kitchen. He took a brief look around. Yellow walls, white tile, white cabinets. She sat down at the table and gingerly pulled her jacket off. There were various cuts and the beginnings of bruises, but it was the hunk of bloody plastic wedged into the flesh of her hip that made him gasp in horror.

"Jeez Kitten." He gasped the nickname coming unbidden to his lips.

"I just need to pull it out, pour some hydrogen peroxide on it, stitch it up and I will be good as new." She said as if all she had suffered was a broken nail.

She grabbed the tweezers and pulled out an inch long chunk of plastic. The wound started to bleed. She grabbed a compress and placed it on the wound. She held it there checking on the bleeding. She took up the suture kit and that was when he stopped her. "I know what I'm doing. I was doing a dig in Siberia and a classmate fell, put a giant gash in her leg. We were in the middle of nowhere so we had to stop and since I was the most calm one, I got the job of stitching her up."

The only problem was that the angle was bad for her to stitch up her hip. She had to twist her body to do it which meant she was just pulling on the wound and making it bleed.

"I got this." He said softly as he took the needle from her slightly shaking hand. He didn't know how he knew how to stitch up a wound, but looking at all of his scars he was pretty sure that he either stitched himself up a lot, or someone had taught him, or he had watched enough times that he could flounder his way through and not screw it up too bad.

She flinched as the needle hit her skin. He looked at her and she nodded to him. He thought she would look away as he began slowly stitching up the wound, but she watched him intently. Apparently he did know what he was doing because he did a pretty decent job.

He cut the thread and dumped a bunch of hydrogen peroxide on the wound. Katherine made a slight whimper but nothing really noticeable. He sterilized the needle and put it back in the kit. Katherine had already placed a compress and bandaged up her side.

He looked at her while she finished putting things away and watched as she winced in pain. "Kitten," He began softly. "What happened?"

She looked at him and shrugged, but winced at the movement. "I was just driving home. Some idiot was texting and driving and t-boned me. I wasn't even the first one through the intersection, but I suppose I'm glad he hit me instead of the car in front of me." He looked at her in sock. "A mom and a baby and toddler were in the car ahead of me. I don't know if they would have come off as lucky as I did. If the guy had have been going just a little faster he would have ploughed into the driver's side back of that car instead of hitting the driver's side front of my car." She went to shake her head but stopped the movement before she started it. "I hope you didn't worry too much." She said to him.

_Worry? She hoped he hadn't worried?_ He was still trying to keep the fear from clawing at him. He was still trying to get his heartbeat under some sort of control. He looked at her. She was calmly looking back at him. She could have died, had almost died and she was just calmly trying to patch herself up and glad the moron who had hit her had hit her instead of the car in front of her. She should be at the hospital because he was pretty sure she was in shock.

"This place got a computer?" He asked her.

She frowned slightly. "Down the hall, in the library there's a laptop."

He nodded. "Don't move." He ordered her and strode to the library, spotted the laptop sitting on a dark wooden desk. He grabbed it and walked back to the kitchen. Thankfully she hadn't moved.

"What are you doing?" She asked him as he put the laptop down. He flipped it open and then stopped. _He knew how to use one of these things didn't he? He had to._ It tuned on when he flipped the top up."How do you get on the internet?" He asked her.

"Click on the 'e' icon." She said looking at him. The webpage came up and he at least knew how to google things.

"I think you're in shock." He told her. "I'm going to see how bad you got it then you are going to call that policeman back and get him to take you to the hospital." He told her as he scanned the symptoms of shock. "Damn it Katherine why didn't you just go to the hospital?" He growled at her.

"Rogue I am not in shock. I'm fine. And I can't just call up the police officer and say, hey I changed my mind, I need a lift."

"Yes you can. The guy gave you his direct line." He said, checking through a different website when the one he was looking at ended up being useless.

"He's a cop, not a taxi service." She protested.

"Trust me Kitten, you call that guy and he will be here within minutes."

"Why?" She said to him. He looked at her in surprise.

"Because he was totally hitting on you. Police officers do not give their direct lines to random car accident victims." He growled.

"Oh." She said softly.

He looked at her in disbelief. _She didn't know he was flirting with her? Of course she didn't know, she was in shock_.

"I think you're imagining things. I am a bloody mess, literally." She said to him.

"Okay, rapid shallow breathing?" He looked at her. She was breathing normally. "Cold clammy skin." He reached out and touched her cheek which was crusted in blood but seemed warm and dry. "Rapid or weak pulse." He moved his fingers to the pulse at her throat.

"Do you even know what a pulse is supposed to feel like?" She asked him.

"No." He said to her. He could feel her pulse but he wasn't sure what it was supposed to feel like.

Katherine sighed and reached out touching his throat where his pulse was. She closed her eyes. "Your pulse is beating quickly." She said to him. "Mine is fine." She said pulling her fingers away.

_Of course his pulse was hammering in his throat. She was scaring the hell out of him right now. _"Dizziness or fainting. You nearly fainted over there." He said looking at her.

"I didn't almost faint, my stupid leg gave out on me." She turned the screen towards her. "I'm not staring, or unresponsive, I don't have a high level of anxiety or confusion, I'm not sweating and I do not have bluish lips or nails." She closed the laptop. "See, I'm fine. Battered, bruised, a few cuts and scrapes, probably going to hurt like hell tomorrow, but otherwise I'm fine."

"Katherine I just watched you pull a giant chunk of plastic from your hip. That is not fine. Why the hell didn't you just go to the hospital?" He asked as he gently took her arm and turned her to face him. It was starting to really freak him out that she was being so calm. She should have been a shattered tearstained mess.

She looked at him seriously. "If I went to the hospital then they would have called my mother, and I couldn't do that to her." She said softly. He understood not wanting to worry her mother but her next words shocked him."Besides, I couldn't go to the hospital because I didn't want to make you worry. I could have tried calling, but I knew you wouldn't answer the phone, so if I didn't come back, then where would you be? I couldn't just leave you alone." She said to him. "I needed to get home to make sure you were okay." She said softly.

_She was worried about him? She just walked away from a car crash that had totalled her car, and was lucky to be alive, because she was worried about him?_ "

But it looks like you are doing pretty good. You even managed to make it downstairs." She said with a smile.

He pulled her into his arms burying his face in her hair. "Kitten, if you ever do anything so stupid again I will be very, very pissed off at you." He said angrily.

"Rogue. I made a promise to myself that I would not just leave you or abandon you. As long as you need me, I'll be here." She said softly.

"I'm not a stray animal that needs to be taken care of Kitten." He said angrily.

She looked at him and laughed. "I know that, but until you get your memory back I'm kinda all you got, and I'm not going to let you go wandering around and possibly get yourself killed. I dragged your sorry ass back here and spent nearly two weeks looking after you, so you ae stuck with me." She said with a smile.

He looked at her. "Yeah, and what is your boyfriend going to think of you stayin' here and lookin' after me, huh?" He growled her.

Katherine chuckled and winced in pain. "Ouch." She said softly. "I need to get cleaned up." She tried to stand. "Okay shouldn't have sat down."

He bent down and lifted her up.

"No, no, no. Put me down, you're still barely recovered, seriously." He put her down gently. Between then they managed to get her up the stairs and into the bathroom in his room.

"Is there another bathroom on this floor?" He asked.

"Yeah, but this one has a tub. And I think I am just going to go lie in it and maybe not come out." She groaned. She was looking pale and he was starting to see pain playing about on her face.

She moved her arm to take her shirt off and winced. "Ouch." She said. She looked over at him. "You can leave anytime." She said to him. He looked at her. "I'll yell if I have any problems, now go away." She said to him.

He growled under his breath, but left the bathroom. He closed the door behind him when he remembered something. "No bath Kitten, you'll swell up like a balloon. Have a quick cool shower that's it, got it." He yelled at her through the door.

He may have heard her swear, he wasn't sure, but he heard the shower start up.

He began pacing outside of the door, all of his pain forgotten. The shower finally stopped and he heard more swearing coming from the bathroom. "Rogue?"

He opened the door and dashed into the bathroom. She was slumped on the floor a towel loosely wrapped around her. "I think whatever they gave me in the ambulance has kicked in." She said in a slurred voice. "They said it may make me a little drowsy but I didn't think it was working."

"Let me see Kitten." He said gently as he slowly moved the towel enough that he was able to see her side. Her shoulder was beginning to bruise, but her ribs were already a dark purple that spanned from just under her armpit to her ankle.

"Shit." He said as he lifted her up off the ground. "You need to get some ice on this Kitten." He said as he carried her to his bed. He could have tried to take her across the hall, but he honestly didn't think he would be able to carry her that far.

"I don't think there is enough ice in the house." She mumbled, eyes already closed.

He wondered even if he did have that much ice, on how he would actually cover that much skin. "It's okay Kitten. I got this one." He said. "Just get some sleep." He said to her as he stripped off his sweats. He slid into bed next to her. He pulled the damp towel from around her and pulled her close.

"I'm going to hurt real bad tomorrow, aren't I?" She asked him groggily.

"Yup." He said to her.

She frowned. "Are you staying?" She asked him.

"I'm going to make your boyfriend jealous Kitten." He said to her.

She smiled slightly. "Don't have one." She frowned. "Gonna hafta stop doing this."

"Doing what?" He asked her softly.

But she never answered him. "I'll be good Kitten. No funny business, promise." He said as he pulled her in closer, hoping the coolness of his skin would help her bruises, but knowing it wouldn't help as much as he wished it would. She was going to hurt tomorrow. She probably had whiplash, and who knew what else.

And that was if she didn't freak out and try to kill him when she woke up for basically sleeping with her while she was naked and vulnerable. He looked at the sun streaming in through the windows. He snuggled in deeper and closed his eyes to sleep.

He woke up a few hours later, with Katherine still wrapped up in his arms. He was hungry, but at the same time he didn't want to leave Katherine alone. His stomach rumbled. He groaned and got up. He walked to the kitchen and quickly made himself a peanut butter and jam sandwich, which he quickly ate and managed to make it back upstairs. He went to the bathroom and stumbled back into bed.

He still felt drained and exhausted, but he figured it was because Katherine had scared the crap out of him. She was probably going to freak out tomorrow. It was probably the drugs that were making her so calm.

He possessively pulled her closer to him. He could have lost her. This thought shot a jolt of remembrance through him. In the midst of his terror when she had calmly explained what had happened, he had realized that he was falling for her. Which was ridiculous because he had only known her for two weeks. _You couldn't fall for someone in two weeks could you?_ Especially when you didn't even know who you were or what you were.

"You're an idiot." He mumbled to himself. He knew there was no way that she could ever feel anything for him, and yet he let himself start to fall for her anyway.

He closed his eyes and went to sleep.

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><p><strong>Awwhh I thought it was kinda a sweet chapter. Thoughts, opinions?<strong>


	10. Chapter 10

**Yikes, this chapter is longer than the last one!**

**A Big thank you to Mela, chibiwolf33 and yesiamweird, for your wonderful reviews and support!**

**I hope everyone enjoys this next chapter!**

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><p><span>Chapter 10<span>

**Rogue** vaguley heard his name being called.

"Rogue."

"Mmm?" He grunted.

"I need to go to the bathroom.

"Mmm." He grunted again.

"So that means you have to get off me." Katherine's voice said in his ear.

He frowned in confusion as he opened his eyes and looked up into Katherine's. She was laying on her back and he was partially sprawled on top of her. His head had been laying in the crook of her neck, half of his body was laying on her, with his arms securely around her, his one leg thrown over her legs. It was then he remembered that she was completely naked. He sat bolt upright, a blush stealing across his cheeks.

"Thanks." She said as she rolled out of bed. "Ow." She said as she stood. She shifted her arm and looked down the injured side of her body. Masses of dark purple bruises marked her body along with the bandage that she had on her hip. "Well I suppose it could have been worse." She said as she turned and limped to the bathroom.

He had tried not to look, (Oh who was he kidding, he had looked, had wanted to look). His eyes had roved over her naked body and she was magnificent, even as battered and bruised as she was.

He frowned. "You okay Kitten?" He asked her as he slowly got out of bed.

"I'm fine." She said as she strode out of the bathroom, through the bedroom and out the door.

He looked at the door in confusion as she came back into the bedroom wearing a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. She frowned and turned around heading back out of the bedroom. He slowly followed her. She was brushing her teeth in the other bathroom. She finished up with that and looked at him. "What?" She asked.

He looked at her with worry. "Are you sure you're okay?" He asked.

She nodded. "I'm fine. Why are you having problems believing that I am fine?" She asked him.

"Oh I don't know, because I saw what was left of your car, and I still can't believe you managed to walk away in one piece." He said angrily. "I don't even know how you are up and walking around right now!" He said shaking his head.

"I didn't tense up." She said to him as she grabbed a hairbrush. "You know how to brush hair?" She asked him.

"What!" He asked in confusion.

"If you don't, that's fine, I'll just cut it off." She said with a shrug.

"What?" He said again stupidly.

"Well I am still hurt. I can't lift my arm up." She said motioning to her left arm. "Luckily it wasn't my right side that got creamed, that would have been bad. Anyway I can't brush this much hair one handed. So either you are going to have to brush my hair or I am going to find a pair of scissors and hack it off." She said with a shrug.

He looked at her in confused horror. Her hair cascaded down her back in glorious russet, blonde and red curling waves, and she wanted to cut it off? "I'll learn." He said grabbing the brush from her. She walked from the bathroom back to his room. She sat down on the bed. "What is it with men and long hair?" She asked him as he climbed onto the bed and looked at the back of her head wondering where to even start.

"Start at the top, work your way down, but don't rip through my hair if you find a knot you have to work it out." She showed him what to do. He grabbed the silken mass and ran his fingers through it. He knew it was as soft as it felt, but hadn't actually had a chance to really touch her hair. He didn't know why, but he found it beautiful. Probably because he didn't have any.

"It must be nice not having any hair." She said suddenly.

"Why?" He asked in confusion.

"Well, think about how much time you save not having to wash it, or shave it off. I mean, you are completely hairless." She said as she pulled at his arm that was carefully pulling the brush through her hair. She studied his arm for a moment, and then let it go.

"I'm a freak, I get that." He said softly.

She turned her head around and looked at him in shock. "Rogue..." She began, but he cut her off. He didn't want her telling him either that she agreed with him, or lying to him to make him feel better.

"What do you mean you didn't tense up?" He asked her as he began to brush her hair.

She paused, but answered him."If I would have seen the car coming I would have tensed up, bracing myself for the impact, which can actually hurt you more. When I didn't tense up, and although my body took the impact of the car, my body wasn't trying to fight against the impact, I just went with it, so I wasn't hurt as badly as I could have been." She said to him.

He nodded. Somehow that made sense.

Katherine suddenly froze as if she had heard something. He frowned but finally heard what had grabbed her attention. There was the sound of gravel being crushed on the driveway.

She slowly crawled off the bed and looked out the window. "Huh. It's the police." She said with a frown. "Maybe about the accident? Oh. It's officer Hendricks. Maybe he wants me to answer a few questions?" She asked as she left the room to answer the door.

"Yeah, questions like: Are you available? and Would you like to go out for dinner?" He grumbled out under his breath. He got up off the bed and listened at the top of the stairs.

"Hello officer, can I help you?" Katherine asked politely.

"Sam please." He began. "I'm not stalking you I promise." He said with what Rogue imagined was a charming smile. "But I was concerned after yesterday and I knew you were alone, so I wanted to make sure that you were alright." He said to her.

"Oh. That was nice of you. But you didn't have to come all this way. I'm fine, little banged up, but give me a week and I should be good as new." She said with what was no doubt a blinding smile.

Sam gave an awkward cough. "Well, I am pleased to hear it."

"Have a good day." Katherine said to him.

"Wait." He said desperately. "I was wondering if, when you are feeling a little better, if you would be available for dinner?"

"Available?" She asked in confusion.

"Yes, as in...I'm asking you out on a date." He said to her.

Rogue felt a jealous rage burn through him, but he stamped it down. She deserved someone like the cop. He seemed like a decent enough guy. Which just pissed him off even more.

"Date?" Katherine asked in confusion as if she had never been asked out on a date before. Rogue frowned. She had to have dated scores of guys.

"Yes a date, you know that thing when two people go out together and get to know each other better." He said with a laugh.

"Oh." Katherine said. "Um...I'm sorry, but I already have somebody." She said softly.

"I should have guessed a beautiful woman like you would be taken already." He said. "But I had to try. You have yourself a good day." He said in an overly cheerful voice.

"Thank you...Samuel." She said as Rogue heard her close the door.

Katherine made her way slowly upstairs. Rogue quietly retreated back to the bed.

"So, you need to answer more questions?" He asked her, thinking she would lie to him.

"No. I guess you were right, Officer Hendricks was hitting on me. He asked me out on a date, but I told him that I already had someone." She said as she walked back to the bed and sat down in front of him so that he could finish brushing her hair.

"You told me you didn't have a boyfriend Kitten." He said softly. Wondering who the guy was that she wasn't going out with, but obviously had feelings for.

"I don't." She said. "But I have you." She said to him.

He stopped brushing her hair and stared at the back of her head in shock, hope warring within him, only to be dashed when he remembered that she had promised not to leave him until he got his memory back.

It hit him then what a burden he was on her. She had looked after him, cooked for him, entertained him, and now she couldn't even go out until she was rid of him because her heart was just too damn big.

"You should have said yes Kitten." He said softly. "You should take me back to New York."

"What?" She asked in shock as she turned around. "Ow." She said wincing in pain at her sudden movement.

"I'll be fine Kitten." He said with a smile that didn't make it to his eyes.

Her eyes narrowed but she nodded. "You're right." She said as hurt lashed through him. He was just a burden.

"I should have thought about that sooner. I should take you to where I found you and see if anything is familiar. Maybe being there might jog your memory." She said happily. "I have to run into the museum tomorrow, so we can both go and we can drive around New York and see if anything clicks."

"Kitten I'm just a burden." He said softly. "You should be out having fun, instead of being stuck here with me."

Katherine tipped her head to the side and looked at him seriously. "If you want to go Rogue I can't stop you. If you want to leave I'll drive you back to New York and you can try to do everything on your own and that's fine." She said. "But..." She paused.

"Kitten..." He began because he knew where she was going. She was going to try to tell him that he couldn't do it on his own, which made him angry because he didn't need her pity.

"I didn't realize how lonely I was." She finished softly.

His angry retort died on his lips as he looked at her in shock. Then he realized that she was stuck in the middle of nowhere all by herself.

"And I don't mean lonely as in I am here by myself." She said with a shake of her head. "I like being alone. I like being able to do what I do and not have anyone bother me. I like the quiet, I like being out here. I find it peaceful. But what I mean is...You don't belong in this world Rogue." She told him bluntly.

He felt himself pale at her accusation and wondered where the sudden attack came from.

"And most of the time I feel like I don't belong here either." She said to him. "You say go out, have fun, and I enjoy having fun as much as the next person, but I don't need to go to a bar or club to have it. I've been there done that. I'm 21, which means I've been allowed to legally drink and gamble for almost 3 years already. I'm more of a homebody. I enjoy doing singular activities. I like curling up with a good book. I like painting and drawing. I like to sometimes just sit outside and watch the clouds float by and daydream. But with you, I finally feel like, I don't have to try. I can just be me and you don't seem to mind the fact that I may not speak to you for 5 hours even though you must be bored to tears just watching me paint. I don't have to try to fill the empty silence with meaningless prattle, it is just comfortable. You don't seem to care that I have this routine where I do the same thing every day. And it isn't because I don't like change or anything like that. I don't mind change. I just like to do things my way and in my own time. But I get a little forgetful when I am painting and keeping to a routine helps me to remember what I'm doing." She said with embarrassment.

He continued to look at her in shock and he really didn't know what to say. This beautiful, intelligent woman was telling him she appreciated the fact that he was...him. But did this mean she had deeper feelings for him, or was she just content to have a friend.

"I'll stay." He said softly because what else could he say?

She smiled at him. "Most people think I'm a little weird." She said as she lay down on the bed. "But I'm okay with that. Who wants to be normal anyway?" She asked with a yawn. "I think I'm just going to curl up here for a nap. Do you mind?" She asked him.

"No." He said softly.

"Kay."

"Hey Kitten?"

"Hmm?" She asked him.

"I don't think you're weird."

She chuckled. "Thank you."

He frowned in thought. "What did you think when you first saw me?" He asked her softly.

She opened her eyes and looked at him. "Well, disbelief I suppose. I realized that you weren't human right away, but then I was too worried about getting you away from the garbage truck operator and then I was worried you were going to die on me."

"You weren't horrified, you didn't freak out?" He asked her.

She frowned at him. "Of course not." She said in surprise. "That would be a stupid thing to do. Was I surprised, of course, but, you're not human, so what? It doesn't change who you are. If you aren't bothered by the fact that I am human, why should I be bothered by the fact that you aren't. Besides, freaking out over things is impractical. It doesn't make sense. I mean, what is the point, it just wastes time."

He frowned when he remembered how calm she was when she walked in the door after the crash. "Kitten when you weren't having a break-down after coming home, I thought you were in shock, but I don't understand how you could be so calm, you could have been killed."

"But I wasn't killed, and I wasn't calm, just...There is no point in worrying over what could have happened instead of what did happen. I walked away. My uncle's car is trashed so I am going to have to get that sorted out with insurance. Luckily I was driving the junker and not his SUV." She closed her eyes. "I'm not emotionless." She said softly. "I just don't like feeling out of control. People don't understand that I'm not the Ice Queen. I can feel emotion, I'm just unable to express it well." She opened her eyes, and he was surprised to see a moment of vulnerablitly before it vanished. "I'm sorry I worried you. It _was_ scary. I did think I was going to die, and it hurt and I hurt right now. I feel like my whole left side is just pain, and my head is killing me, and I want to sleep so that the pain goes away for a little bit. But like I said, there is no point dwelling on what happened. I'm alive, I'll feel better tomorrow, maybe even tonight, and then we will drive two hours into the city and see if we can't find out who you are." She said with a smile as she rolled over and closed her eyes.

He realized then how much it had probably cost her to show him that little bit of vulnerability. But she was right. Generally she tended to be bright and chipper, but he had seen flashes of irritation, and frustration. Sometimes aimed at him. But these flashes were only momentary. He had thought he had been imagining things, but instead, she had an iron rein on all of her emotions. And she had let him see her control slip for a moment.

* * *

><p><strong>Rogue<strong> looked at Katherine's face. She was furious and right now all of her anger was aimed directly at him. He swallowed but held his ground.

"Give me my keys. Now!" Katherine ground out angrily.

"No." He said crossing his arms over his chest.

"Rogue, I'm not kidding around, I want my keys." She said holding out her hand.

"No." He said sternly. He was getting angry himself. He never dreamed that she could be so damn stubborn. "I am not letting you go anywhere." He ground out.

It had been a week since the car accident and Katherine had been more hurt than she had let on. It had taken a few days for her to be able to move and she was still limping and had problems with her left arm. She was better though, which was why he was having such a hard time with her at the moment. Katherine had talked to the Museum Director the day after she had curled up on his bed for a nap and hadn't gotten up. "The director knows that you were hurt, just give it a few more days and quit being so damn stubborn!" He yelled at her.

"I've got things to do and the Director called me yesterday wanting to see how the progress on the paintings was going and you haven't let me paint in a week so I am going down there to show him what I have got. Although he's seen my portfolio he could still pull my commission, so move!" She said furiously.

He could hear his teeth grinding together in anger and frustration. He was frustrated that she was still trying to do everything even though she was still hurt, but even more than that he was frustrated at what they were actually doing. He had no idea what her feelings were for him and it was driving him crazy.

They had begun watching movies on her laptop in bed when she found she couldn't move, and when he had pulled her into his side she hadn't seemed to mind. Occasionally she would give him a gentle touch on his arm or shoulder and it was driving him insane because either she liked him, (which he thought highly unlikely) Or she didn't think about him in anyway other than as a close friend and probably didn't even realize that he was interested in her.

He stepped close to her. She looked up at him and he could feel the room crackle with tension, but some part of him was beginning to realize that there was another type of tension that was simmering just below the surface.

Her green eyes were flashing at him in anger and she was magnificent. He grabbed her by the chin and looked down at her shocked face. A blush rode up her cheeks as she pulled away.

"You are driving me crazy, you know that don't you?" He yelled at her, but he wasn't sure if he was talking about right now or just in general.

"Rogue why are you being so irrational!" She yelled at him.

"Why are you being so damn stubborn. You should be in bed!"

She cut him off. "I can't just lay around! Look, I can walk just fine, which means I can drive just fine so,"

He cut her off. "No, forget that! I'm not letting you out of my sight and that's final!" The phone started to ring. He glared at the phone and grabbed it. "This the director wondering where you are, well I'm tellin him that you are still too damn injured!"

"Don't you dare!" She dove at him. He was so shocked that he caught her and he fell back dragging her with him. They landed in a heap on the floor.

He looked at the phone in his hand and slammed the talk button beneath his finger. "What?" He shouted into the phone.

There was a pause and then a feminine voice asked over speakerphone, "Hello?"

"Mom?" Katherine said in surprise.

_Mom?_ He mouthed to her as she grabbed the phone from him. He moved but Katherine winced in pain. She clenched her teeth together as he froze. She was sprawled on top of him and if he moved he was going to hurt her. She held up her good hand motioning for him not to move. She tried to get the phone off of speaker, but for some reason it didn't seem to be working.

"You've broke it." Katherine hissed at him. "Hey mom how are you?" She asked pleasantly as if she wasn't lying in a painful heap on top of whatever it was that he was. Everything was perfectly normal.

"I'm fine honey, who was that?" She asked curiously.

Katherine looked at him. "I..." She began but her mother cut her off.

"Katherine, having boys over when your uncle isn't even there."

Katherine's cheeks bloomed with colour. "Mom..."

Her mother started to laugh. "I never thought you had it in you sweetheart. Is he your boyfriend?" She asked.

Katherine's blush deepened. "Mom!" She said in embarrassment.

"It about time you took an interest in men. I was starting to wonder. You spend way too much time either in your own little world or working with all of those bones and dirt. I didn't think you would even make it out on a date let alone have a boyfriend. And bringing him to your uncle's house, it must be serious, is he staying there with you?" Her mother asked.

"Mom!"Katherine was blushing heavily

"Well good for you dear, a girl your age should have a little fun. Why I remember when I was your age, well, things were different then you understand. And this was before I met your father of course, but I remember there was this man and he was a musician..."

Katherine looked at the phone in horror. She was holding it away from her as if it were some hideous bug. "Mom..." Katherine said trying to cut her mother off.

"Well we didn't leave his room for a week. Ahh free love, those were good days. I remember I experimented so much back then. Why I remember when..."

"Mom!"

"So what's he like? He has a very nice voice, very passionate. You know passionate men are so misunderstood. Maybe he could show you that passion and emotions are good, it is healthy to lose control every once in a while dear. Let your hair down, get a little wild. You're only young once you know. But you still haven't told me anything about him. I am your mother and I insist on details." She said happily. Katherine on the other hand looked horrified and embarrassed. He personally was trying hard not to laugh. "How old is this young man anyway?" She asked.

Katherine rested her forehead on his chest in defeat. Katherine's mother was like a hurricane. She bowled you over and you hoped that at the end of it you managed to survive. No wonder Katherine liked peace and quiet.

"Older than me." Katherine grumbled reluctantly into the phone. Rogue frowned. He actually had no idea how old he was. He could be double her age. Worry rode through him. He could be old enough to be her father and he wouldn't even know it. This thought turned his stomach.

"How much older are we talking Katherine? Not that I am surprised, I always thought you would do better with an older man."

Katherine blew out a breath. "Mid twenties." She said softly.

He looked at her in shock. _Was she just saying that or did she know something he didn't?_

"You could just say 25. You're spending too much time with all these smart academic people. And is he attractive, he must be, you are so beautiful, ignoring all of those nice, handsome, young men that are always falling all over you."

"Yes mom, he is attractive." She said into the phone softly. He looked at the top of Katherine's head in shock. Now he knew she was lying. He knew what he looked like.

"I'm so glad dear. Anyway I was just checking in, I'm glad you are having fun. Now I've got to run , love you." Her mother said happily.

"Love you too mom." Katherine grumbled into the phone.

"Oh and sweetheart?"

"What?"

"Don't forget to use protection. Bye." Her mother said happily.

"Mom!" Katherine yelled into the phone but she had already hung up. Katherine turned off the phone, her forehead still resting on his chest.

Emotions were rioting through Rogue. He had wanted to laugh at the beginning of the conversation, but now all he had were questions.

"You're mom is...somethin'." He said trying to wipe his mind of any images involving Katherine and her beautiful body sprawled beneath him as he made love to her.

"Yeah, something." Katherine looked at him, but smiled and then laughed. She still had a blush on her cheeks, but she was smiling at him, and he liked it when she smiled at him.

"Kitten, how old do you really think I am?" He asked her softly. He was curious, and he wanted to pretend that she really did think he was attractive. And by not asking her if she did find him attractive he wouldn't have to have her lie to him.

She frowned at him. "I'm usually really good at figuring out how old someone is." She said as she studied him. "But I am going off of what I would look for in a human, so I could be totally wrong, but I would put you at mid twenties, so 25, 26 somewhere around there."

"But how can you tell?" He asked her.

"Well," She said as she studied him. "Besides music and movie preferences, if I go by physical signs, I always look around the eyes." She said as she brushed along his skin just below his mask with her thumb. "There are slight signs of aging, where lines like smile lines or worry lines begin to become more permanent. So probably older than 25 probably 26 closer to 27. But like I said, I'm going off of human signs and by the way you talk and act, that would be my best guess."

He looked at her laying on him. "Kitten.." He began. The phone rang again. "Hello?" She asked answering it with a frown.

"Katherine, Gordon here, are you on your way?" He asked her in a heavy British accent.

"Yes I'm just walking out the door now."

"Good good, see you in a bit." He hung up.

"Gotta go Rogue." She said as she dug her hand in his front pocket and pulled out her keys.

She rolled off him and slowly got to her feet.

He lay there a moment. He closed his eyes against the warm feel of her touch against him. He managed to get himself under control and slowly stood glaring at her.

She grabbed a backpack that had been laying on the ground. "Come on Rogue let's get going, oh and grab your helmet." She said as she limped out the door.

He ground his teeth together but grabbed his jacket, his helmet and his sai. He didn't know why, but the thought of walking around without a weapon bothered him. Which made him wonder at what kind of person he was that constantly needed a weapon close, even while sleeping.

He followed her out of the house locking the door behind him. He walked past the 'junker' car and shuddered at the thought of Katherine in the driver's seat.

Katherine opened the garage door and there was a new Escalade SUV, and beside that, a beautiful Kawasaki Ninja ZX-12R. All thoughts of anything but the bike deserted him. It's seats were bright red leather, the rest of the bike being completely black.

"You never said you had a bike!" He said in shock as he drooled a little.

He brushed his fingers across the smooth surface of the gas tank.

Katherine frowned. "You never asked." She said looking at him.

"Kitten, please tell me we are takin' the bike." He said.

"Well it would look pretty ridiculous if you were walking around with a bike helmet but no bike." She said as she pulled a black helmet from a work bench.

"I'm drivin Kitten." He said as he pulled his own helmet over his head.

"You don't even know if you can drive one." She protested.

"Oh I can drive this." He said with a smug grin.

He was actually pretty lucky that they were almost the same height or the bike would have been too small for him.

"Oh come on, I haven't even gotten to drive it yet.!" She said in irritation.

Rogue looked at the bike. It looked brand new. "What are you doing with a bike here Kitten?" He asked as he remembered that she wasn't even from this country.

"My uncle bought it for me as a giant thank you for everything I have been doing for him."

"Nice thank you gift." He said in surprise.

"Yes well, my uncle is a little on the eccentric side and he doesn't have any other family, so I guess he really wanted to say thank you. And besides, if you saw his notes, you could understand him wanting to bribe me." She grumbled.

"I'm driving Kitten." He insisted as he threw his leg over the bike. He grinned. This was what he was talking about. He kicked started the engine. It purred underneath him. Somehow him on a bike felt oddly familiar.

Katherine pulled on a black leather jacket. "Just don't get pulled over okay?" She grumbled as she hopped on the back grabbing him around the waist.

He chuckled as he pulled down his visor.

He backed them out of the garage and carefully drove them on the gravel, but once he hit pavement he punched it wanting to see what the bike could do.

"Yeah!" He shouted as the scenery rushed by.

* * *

><p><strong>Is it wrong to love Kitten's mom. I think she is hilarious.<strong>

**p.s. They are off to New York, and we all know what that means!;) **

**Thoughts and opinions? I love reviews!**


	11. Chapter 11

**A Big giant thank you to Outasync,Chibiwolf33 and Lady Pocketmouse for your awesome support and reveiws!**

**And now the trip to NY!**

**Please enjoy!**

**(I am using way too many exclamation points but I am very excited about this chapter!)**

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 11<span>

**Rogue** had been waiting for what had felt like forever.

"'Bout time Kitten. Jeez you took forever." He said with a shake of his head as she emerged from the museum. He had felt uncomfortable and slightly exposed just standing around outside. But he knew he couldn't go into the museum without taking his helmet off, so he had waited outside in the shadows of the building.

"Sorry, but on the bright side Gordon was really impressed with my work. I told him I would come back tomorrow with the finished canvases and the skulls that I don't need any more." She said happily. "So I guess now I need to show you where I found you." She said to him.

He grunted. The streets had felt familiar, he had even seemed to know where he was going, but nothing had jumped out at him, and no memories had surfaced.

"It may help." She said softly.

"I think it's gonna be a huge waste of time." He grumbled as he uncrossed his arms and got on the bike.

"Yes well, you never know." She said as she put her own helmet on.

It had grown dark by the time they had finally gotten to the museum and Katherine had finished her meeting with the Director.

Katherine gave him directions and he drove throught he neon lit city streets, a sinking feeling in his gut.

* * *

><p><strong>Donatello<strong> watched his older brother with concern. They were currently crouched on the roof of the building that Raphael had fallen to his death from.

They were looking at Michelangelo who was kneeling in front of The Dumpster, laying a single blood red rose on the slightly damp pavement.

Michelangelo stood up and stared at the rose, possibly imagining Raphael's final moments, or thinking about his quest for revenge, he wasn't sure. All he knew was that his brother had yet to agree to stop roaming the streets in pursuit of retribution.

"I'll get them Raph. I swear to you, I'll get them." Michelangelo managed to choke out.

Leonardo frowned in anger and worry.

When Leonardo had discovered that Michelangelo was determined to get revenge, he and Michelangelo had fought as bad as Raphael and Leonardo used to. Michelangelo had of course refused to listen to Leonardo or halt his quest, which was why they were tailing their brother at the moment.

They heard the roar of a motorcycle. Michelangelo darted up to the rooftops. He stopped and looked at them angrily.

"What are you doing here?" He hissed.

"It's time to go home Mikey." Leonardo said gently.

Michelangelo shook his head. "I'm not done here yet." He said stubbornly.

"Fine, we'll wait." Leonardo said with resignation.

* * *

><p><strong>Katherine<strong> looked at the alley. She was actually surprised she remembered where it was. She had felt Rogue getting more and more tense as they had gotten closer to the alley. Not that she could really blame him. He had almost died here. She was silent as he cut the engine. She pulled off her helmet and got slowly off the bike. Her leg and arm were getting to be annoying.

"Well?" She asked.

He just shook his head. She shrugged. It had been worth a try. "Did you want to check around a little bit? I'll stay with the bike." She suggested. He paused and shrugged.

"You gonna be okay?" He asked softly. She could barely hear him. His voice was so quiet. Of course it didn't help that it was muffled by the helmet.

"Go." She said to him. He got off the bike and walked to the mouth of the alley where he turned down the street.

Katherine looked around the alley. It was then she spotted a single rose lying beside the dumpster.

* * *

><p><strong>Donatello<strong> and his brothers watched as the young woman bent down and picked up the single rose. She smelled it and frowned looking around the alley.

"Put it back." Michelangelo growled.

The young woman froze as if she had heard Michelangelo's remark. She appeared to be listening intently.

She placed the rose back in its spot. She continued to look around the alley. She was studying the fire escape intently.

Donatello wondered what she and the man she was with were doing here. She turned her attention away from the fire escape and studied the building opposite them. She frowned and tipped her head to the side. There were windows lining the wall about halfway up the brick surface. It was a store of some sort and the windows had fancy security bars covering them.

The woman walked back to the bike and climbed on. She walked the bike over to the wall and pulled it back on its stand. She then stood on the bike and reached into the ironwork of the security bars. She pulled something from the bars. She got down from the bike and looked at what she held in her hands.

Donatello let out a gasp. In her hands she held Raphael's sai. Donatello could hear the blood rushing through his ears. There had been a irrational hope that Raphael had somehow managed to escape. Even though he knew it was impossible, but all they had was Raphael's bike, a smashed cell phone, and the word of a former Purple Dragon. But his brother must have dropped the sai as he plunged four stories to The Dumpster below.

But how had she even seen the sai? They had been coming here for a month and never once had they spotted their fallen brother's weapon. Of course, they had never really paid attention to the building across the street.

Michelangelo stood. "Mikey." Leonardo hissed.

"She's got Raph's sai. We can't..." Michelangelo's voice hitched in grief. "We can't let her walk away with it."

The woman tipped her head to the side again as if she were listening to them. She looked to the top of the building where they crouched in the shadows, though for some reason Donatello had the impression that she was somehow able to see them.

"She may leave it." Donatello said as she slipped the sai into her belt. "Or not."

"We'll slip down and ask for it." Leonardo said softly. Donatello could see his brother's need to remain hidden, war with his need to get Raphael's sai.

"We had better hurry before the guy she's with comes back. We may have trouble otherwise." Donatello pointed out.

They quietly slipped down a convenient drain pipe. They stayed to the shadows but for some reason she seemed to know where they were because she turned quickly and had the sai in her hand as she looked at them, her body in a defensive stance that reminded Donatello so much of Raphael's stance that he could feel the tears brim in his eyes.

She turned her head away as she listened to them more than watched them.

"We don't want any trouble." Leonardo said softly.

"Says the man hiding in the shadows and trying to sneak up on me." She replied in an equally soft voice.

Donatello was surprised that she hadn't bolted. She obviously felt threatened, but she was calmly looking at them, even though she couldn't really see them.

"All we want is the weapon." Leonardo continued.

The woman looked down at the sai in her hand and gripped it tighter. "It isn't yours." She replied with an edge of steel in her voice.

"This isn't a game of finders keepers! Now give it back!" Michelangelo yelled. His baby brother's voice wavering with anger and grief.

The woman took a step back. "No." She said as she took another step back.

Leonardo moved then. He bolted from the shadows and grabbed at her. She turned so that Leonardo ended up grabbing her from behind. She struggled in his grip.

"I'm sorry." He apologized, "But I am taking this back." He said as he reached around to grab the sai.

"No!" She yelled as she struggled trying to get out of his grasp.

"Leo." Donatello hissed. They were getting too loud, it was going to attract attention, and besides, his brother wasn't supposed to attack her. _But why was she putting up so much resistance against just giving them the sai?_ He wondered.

"Rogue!" She yelled.

* * *

><p><strong>Rogue<strong> heard Katherine yell his name. He had been ducking and weaving through the shadows of the streets, none of which looked familiar or had succeeded in jogging his memory.

He turned and ran to where he had left her in the alley. He had been a fool to leave her alone, but he had been so overwhelmed, he had just wanted to get out of the alley and clear his head. Too many emotions had been rolling around in his head that he had needed to clear it.

It was one thing to know he had nearly been beaten to death, it was another to go back to the place where he had nearly lost his life. And then there was Katherine. If he found out who he was, then he would no longer have an excuse to stay by her, to be with her, and this thought rolled a wave of apprehension through him so thick it had nearly choked him.

He ran into the alley where he could see Katherine being held by one man, two others nearby.

Katherine was trying to struggle, but the man was too strong for her, and besides Katherine was still injured.

"Unless you want to be in a world of hurt buddy, you had better let the lady go. Now." He growled at them.

The man clutched Katherine to him tighter. "We don't want any trouble." The man said to him. "We just want her to give us something that belongs to us." He said as Katherine thrashed.

"She doesn't have anything that belongs to you, now last warning, let her go." He growled as he fingered the sai hidden beneath his coat.

"Leo." One of the men hissed.

"Rogue, catch." Katherine said as she threw him a silver object. He caught it without thinking. He looked at the object in his hand in shock. It was his other sai. He smiled grimly. _This was much better_.

* * *

><p><strong>Donatello<strong> looked at the situation in horror. A situation that was supposed to be peaceful had suddenly erupted into something verging on violence.

Donatello studied the man. He still wore a red and black bike helmet on his head. His hand had reached into his black leather coat.

"Leo." He hissed at his brother. All we needed was for the guy to pull a gun on them and things would get really nasty, very quickly.

"Rogue, catch." The woman said as she tossed his brother's sai to the man standing in the shadows. He caught the sai and looked at it.

"I warned you to let her go." The man growled as he pulled a weapon from within his jacket.

Donatello drew his bow from his back, Michelangelo pulled his nunchucks from his belt, and Leonardo held the woman in one arm using his free hand to draw a katana blade from his back.

But what the man drew was not a gun, it was the twin sai of the one the woman had thrown him.

Donatello's breath caught in his throat. "Raph?" He whispered. But it couldn't be. His brother was dead. It couldn't be him.

Leonardo clutched the woman closer to him. "So you couldn't just kill him, you took a little souvenir and you and your little girlfriend came back so you could get the matching set." Leonardo roared, his voice cracking with grief.

"I don't know what the hell you are talking about, but I am through with talking!" The man named Rogue yelled as he charged them.

Donatello jumped forward and blocked the man's blow. He was surprised because the man actually seemed to know how to fight. He pushed Donatello back kicking him hard in the plastron. Donatello stumbled back.

His sai caught in the chain of one of Michelangelo's nunchucks. He ripped the nunchuck from Michelangelo's hand and punched him hard in the face. Michelangelo went down.

"Now let her go!" He roared.

Leonardo gripped the woman harder. "Give us the weapons back, and I may let you both live." Leonardo said dangerously.

Donatello looked at his brother in shock. _Leonardo was threatening to kill them?_ That meant that Leonardo believed that they had been a part of the gang that had killed Raphael, and the woman had seemed to know what she was looking for. Rage roared through him. Even if he hadn't wanted revenge, faced with his brother's killers he was going to show no mercy.

Donatello narrowed his eyes. He wanted to look into the eyes of the coward who had taken his brother's life. He could see the straps of his helmet hanging down which meant that it wasn't secured to his head anymore.

He charged the man angrily. Using the end of his bow he rammed it under the helmet and pulled up taking the helmet off in one swift motion. The helmet hit the ground, the echo hitting the walls and bouncing off in the silence.

Donatello looked in shock at his brother's face.

"What you lookin at?" Raphael said angrily as he punched him in the face.

"Raph?" Michelangelo questioned as Leonardo loosened his grip on the woman ever so slightly.

"Let her go!" Raphael yelled at Leonardo completely ignoring Michelangelo, as if he hadn't even realized that the name was his.

"Raph, it's us." Michelangelo insisted as he walked into the light and pulling off his hood and ball cap.

Raphael shook his head in confusion as he lowered his sais slightly. Then his grip became firm as his body tensed. "I don't know who the hell you are, and my name isn't Raph, so just let her go and we can all walk away peaceful like."

Donatello looked at Raphael in horror. He didn't know who they were, and worse, he didn't know who he was either.

"Rogue..." The woman began but Leonardo silenced her by putting his blade to her throat.

"What did you do to him?" He growled. "What did you do to him!" His brother yelled as the blade pressed deeper into her flesh. "So this was Hun's plan all along. Make us think that our brother was dead, use our grief against us, to try to shatter us, and then break him. Turn our brother into a weapon to be used against us!" Leonardo accused.

A single drop of blood slid down her throat as his brother's blade broke her skin. Donatello looked at the woman. She was younger than they were, and startlingly beautiful. Donatello couldn't really tell what emotion she was feeling at the moment because her eyes were completely emotionless. She was neither frightened, nor did she appear concerned about the sword that was at her throat. Instead she was calmly looking back and forth between them and Raphael.

"Raph, you're alive, that's what is important. We'll take you home and Donny here, will figure out what they did to you, and we'll help you remember who you are." Leonardo said gently.

Raphael took a step back and shook his head. "This is how this is going to play out. You are going to let Kitten go, and we are both going to get on that bike and we are going to drive away. I ain't going anywhere with you psycho's so you can forget it." Raphael growled.

"Raphael..." Leonardo growled.

"That isn't my name, so stop trying to call me by it. My name is Rogue. So just let her go!" Raphael screamed. Rage and fear was rolling around in Raphael's eyes, and for Raphael, that was a bad combination.

"Let her go Leo." Donatello said softly.

Leonardo looked at him in shock. But Donatello knew the look in Raphael's eyes. If they didn't let her go, Raphael was going to lose it and fly into an all consuming rage. He was surprised that he hadn't already, but Raphael seemed to be restraining himself.

"Donny." Leonardo growled.

"Just let her go Leo." He put a comforting hand on his brother's shoulder.

His brother let her go. She slowly eased out of his brother's grip. The woman slowly walked towards Raphael throwing them an assessing glance over her shoulder. She was moving slowly and carefully, but was walking with a slight limp. Leonardo must have injured her when he had grabbed her.

Raphael pulled her into him, one arm around her, pulling her protectively against him, the other still holding his sai, ready to use it if needed. "You okay Kitten?" He asked gently.

"Yes." The woman said softly.

Raphael grunted. "Go grab the bike, take it to the opening of the alley, I gotta have a little bit of a chat and I'll be right there." Raphael growled.

"But..." She began.

"Now." He ordered.

She huffed out a breath and walked to the bike. She grabbed her helmet and put it on her head, started up the bike and drove it to the end of the alley.

Raphael watched her out of the corner of his eye, but kept most of his attention on them. "You seem to know me, and you called me your brother, so fine, I can see the family resemblance, but I don't want anything to do with you. I just want you to answer a few questions for me and then, I am outta here." He growled.

"Raph..." Michelangelo pleaded.

"First question, what the hell am I?"

Leonardo looked too angry, confused and worried to answer, so Donatello answered for him.

"Mutant turtle. We started out as just ordinary turtles, but we were mutated by an alien mutagen, and we became what we are." He said softly.

Raphael nodded as he seemed to contemplate this. "Wonderful." He growled. "Next question, how old am I?"

"26." Leonardo ground out.

Raphael nodded. "How many of us are there?"

"Just us." Donatello told him.

"Heh. Well I suppose it's nice to know I ain't the only freak out there, but still..." He looked at them. "Am I a vegetarian?"

"What?" He asked in shock.

"Didn't think so. Last question. Am I seein someone?" He asked.

"Huh?" Donatello asked in shock.

Raphael snorted. "That's what I thought. Now I'm leavin, and don't even think about tryin' to follow us." He said as he stalked back to the bike snagging his helmet on the way.

He put the helmet on his head and didn't even glance back. The woman did though. She moved back on the bike so that Raphael could drive. She grabbed him around the waist as they roared off.

"Donny, you get a tracking device on them?" Leonardo asked.

He looked at his older brother in shock. "Of course not Leo!" Donatello frowned. "But I don't think we will need it." He said as he walked to the entry of the alley. He knelt down and picked up the piece of paper the woman had dropped. He fingered it thoughtfully as he handed it to his brother.

Leonardo's eyes narrowed. "Do you think it's a trap?" He asked.

Donatello shrugged. He wasn't sure. "The important thing is that he's alive Leo." Donatello said softly. "He might not remember us, or himself, but he is alive." Donatello closed his eyes against the welling of relief and happiness that assailed him. His brother was alive.

"Do you think we can help him?" Michelangelo asked softly.

"Well, we have a place to start." Leonardo said as he tapped against his hand a brochure for the American Museum of Natural History, with the words: Tomorrow 8:00pm, written on it.

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><p><strong>LOL so thoughts opinions? Tell me what you think!<strong>


	12. Chapter 12

**A big thank you to Outasync, Chibiwolf33 and Rocky181 for your awesome reviews and support!**

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><p><span>Chapter 12<span>

**Rogue** stopped the bike a block away from where they had encountered his 'brothers'. He got off the bike. "Let me see your neck Kitten." He ordered as she tipped her neck up. There was blood on her throat. He had an image flash through his mind of blood streaking down another throat, a green one. The image vanished. He looked at the smear of blood on Katherine's throat. He saw red. "I'm going back and I'm going to kill the bastard." He growled.

"Ro...Raphael." Katherine said to him.

"That ain't my name Kitten. There's nothing wrong with the name you gave me." He said angrily.

"But..." She began.

"I don't want to talk about it." He said as he got back on the bike. Luckily for him she couldn't push him to talk because it was a long drive home and it was hard to talk on a bike.

Emotions, thoughts and questions were bouncing and rolling through him. Rage and fear however were the emotions currently vying for his attention. Rage at the guy who had grabbed and threatened Katherine, and fear that she had been grabbed in the first place. She could have been killed. The blood on her neck sent a wave of fear and realization through him. All he could think about was the guy...Leo. That was his name. All Rogue could think about was that this Leo, was threatening the woman he loved. He briefly closed his eyes.

He was in love with Katherine. He knew he was falling for her, was attracted to her, but he didn't think that he was stupid enough to let himself fall in love with her. But he should have known. Should have figured it out after she had been hurt in the car accident, but he wouldn't let himself think the thought, but tonight, he let himself think it.

And now he had encountered his 'brothers'. They knew who he was, and they had wanted to take him with them, but the horror he had felt at the thought of them taking him was overwhelming. He didn't want anything to do with anyone who threatened an innocent woman, 'brothers' or not, but the thought that he may be exactly like them sent a shiver of dread through him. If he was that type of person, he didn't ever want to remember who he was.

Rogue pulled the bike into the garage, turned it off and sat a moment. He finally got off the bike, pulled off his helmet, and looked at Katherine. He didn't know what emotions she saw rolling around in his eyes, but she slowly got off the bike and looked at him. She reached out and grabbed his hand, giving it a comforting squeeze. "I'm okay." She said softly.

Anger boiled and raged through him. "Yeah, but because of me, you almost weren't!" He growled at her.

"I think that was all a very bad misunderstanding." Katherine said softly.

"Some misunderstanding! That guy had a sword to your throat! I'm sorry Kitten, but whoever I am, and whoever they are, I don't care. I don't ever want my memory back if that is what I'm like." He said angrily.

Katherine's eyes widened in shock. "But what if what they said was true?" She asked him seriously.

"What? That you were responsible for me almost bein' killed, then somehow erased my memory all so that you could what? Use me against them? I've never heard anything so stupid." He ground out in frustration.

"Yes, but how do you know?" She insisted. "You only have my word as to what happened."

"Because I know you Kitten." He said letting go of her hand and gently holding her face between his hands.

"Then if you know me, then you know yourself. 'What's in a name? That which we call a rose/By any other name would smell as sweet." She said to him.

"What?" He questioned in confusion.

"_Romeo and Juliet_. It means that it doesn't matter what your name is, a name isn't important, it is who you are that is. And you may not remember who you are, but you know yourself. It is okay to be Raphael."

He shook his head in denial. "I don't want you ever callin' me by that name Kitten. My name is Rogue." He said fiercely.

She opened her mouth in protest.

"Ever!" He said firmly.

She snapped her mouth shut, but nodded, worry in her eyes. She reached up and stroked his cheek with her thumb. He closed his eyes at the sensation of her warm hand brushing agaisnt his cheek. He couldn't resist her anymore. His emotions were too raw, too close to the surface. He didn't even think about what he was going to do. He leaned down and kissed her.

He was about to pull back in horror at what he had done, when her arms snaked around his neck. He let go of her face, wrapping his arms around her and crushing her to him. He devoured her. He didn't ever want to stop kissing her, didn't ever want to lose her.

He finally pulled away. She looked up at him and blushed. She pulled herself from his arms. "Do you know how to start a fire?" She asked him. He blinked down at her in confusion. "There is wood by the fire pit." She said as she turned and walked slowly from the garage, a slight limp in her gait.

He didn't ever think he would understand how her mind worked. It was one of the things he loved and hated about her. She thought of herself as boring and uninteresting, but she fascinated and frustrated him, because he never knew what she was going to do or say. Even with her routines, she was somehow chaotic.

He slowly walked around to the back of the house. There was a fire pit in the backyard. He had discovered it when Katherine had been watching him barbeque one day when she was too injured to move. He had also discovered that he couldn't cook. At all. When he had gone to the kitchen he had found out that there weren't any nice convenient meals he could just throw in the microwave. Apparently she was one of _those_ people that cooked from scratch. All he had found was a mound of hamburger sitting in the fridge. The day of the accident he had made her a peanut butter and jam sandwich for dinner, because looking around the kitchen, he couldn't figure out what to do.

The next night Katherine had insisted the hamburger be used. So she told him how to make a from scratch hamburger and cook it on the barbeque. It had been the first time he had been outside in a month and it had been wonderful.

He had burnt the hamburgers, but he had enjoyed the sunshine and the slight breeze.

He looked at the fire pit. _What did she want a fire lit for?_ _And what did she think about him kissing her? She had kissed him back, so did that mean that she was interested in him, or did she not want to hurt his feelings?_ He growled in frustration as he grabbed some kindling and began arranging it in the pit. He found the newspaper and lighter and lit the fire. He piled the larger wood over the kindling and watched as the fire began to pop and crackle.

"Huh, guess I know how to build a fire." He said to himself.

Katherine came out the back door a moment later, a few items in her hands. He walked over to help her. There was a bag of marshmallows, a box of graham crackers, a few bars of chocolate and a blanket.

"I hope you don't mind, but I really don't feel like going to bed yet, so I thought it may be nice to sit out here, look at the stars and make some smores. Is that okay?" She asked him.

"Sure Kitten." He said softly because he didn't think he could sleep either. She gave him a brilliant smile that left him stunned and handed him a stick. She opened the bag of marshmallows and gave him a couple.

He watched her as she pulled up a chair and sat down. She slowly cooked her marshmallows to a nice golden brown. He lit his on fire a few times. She laughed at him as she helped him get the sticky mess off his stick and they made a few smores.

They had finished eating their smores and were both silently staring into the flames of the fire, each lost in their own thoughts.

Katherine had been right. The silence wasn't strained or awkward, even after their kiss, it was a comfortable silence. Being around her was just easy. He didn't have to try to be funny or charm her or think of stupid things to talk about so that she would be interested. He didn't have to try. He could just be himself, or he supposed as much of himself as he could be since he didn't really know who he was. But he had a name now, a name and a family he wanted nothing to do with.

He glanced at her. She had scared the hell out of him again. "It scares the crap out of me when you do that you know." He whispered to her. He didn't even realize he was going to say anything.

When Leo held her in his arms, the sword pressed against her throat, he couldn't even breathe. He had been terrified that he was going to lose her, that she was going to die right there in front of him, and Katherine wasn't making any noise, not a single sound, nor did she betray any emotion at all. She had looked at him calmly, and he wasn't sure if it was because she knew she was going to walk away, that he was going to be able to save her, or if she just shut down. Not showing any emotion because that was just the way she was. That she really did have that much control over her emotions.

She looked at him in confusion. "He could have killed you, and all you did was calmly stand there, even when he cut your throat, you didn't even flinch." He said softly.

"He wasn't going to hurt me." Katherine said softly.

"Bullshit he wasn't!" He replied angrily.

"He wasn't. He wanted to, but he wouldn't."

"How can you even say that? You don't know what was in his head!" He got out of his chair and strode up to her looking down on her angrily.

Katherine smiled at him. "Rogue, what was I supposed to do? Was I supposed to start crying all over the place, and be having a breakdown? How would that have helped the situation? Would that have made you feel better, to have me looking at you, fear rolling around in my eyes, tears running down my cheeks as I silently pleaded for you to save me?"

A double image swam before his eyes. On the right was Katherine as she had just described herself, frightened and crying, her pleading for him to save her, the image broke his heart and twisted it into knots. On the left was how she had been. Calmly assessing the situation as if she were not a part of it. And he realized that if she had not been standing there calmly, he would have lost it. Her calm reaction to the situation had calmed him down to the point where he could still think and talk. He wasn't consumed by rage and fear, and that allowed him to be able to walk away from the situation with her unharmed. Because if he had have lost it, She may have been hurt, probably unintentionally.

"He has the same eyes as you, that is how I knew he wasn't going to hurt me, at least not on purpose." She said to him softly. She opened her mouth as if she was going to say more, but closed it and looked at him. "I can't change who I am. I am who I am, and I just can't waste time on emotions when they won't help a situation."

He closed his eyes. She was who she was, he supposed he would have to just accept that she was as calm as he was passionate. But some part of him wanted to see her slip, see her lose that calm cool control.

He opened his eyes and studied her. She stood up and he had to stand back. She grabbed the blanket she had grabbed earlier and walked over to a tree. She wrapped the blanket around herself and sat down. She leaned against the trunk of the tree. "I'm sorry I worried you."

He sighed. She shouldn't have to apologize for her being her. He walked over and nudged her out of the way. She wrapped the blanket around him. He sat beside her and stared up at the stars. He looked over at her and he pulled her so that she was sitting in front of him. He wrapped her in his arms and looked up at the sky.

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><p><strong>Katherine<strong> looked at Rogue and had to remember that his name was Raphael. She frowned at him. "I will be back about 10:00 pm so I don't want you worrying okay?" She said to him.

He glared at her, his arms crossed over his chest in restrained anger. He grunted, which in man speak was the equivalent to _'I don't trust you not to get into trouble_.'

She repressed a sigh. They had already had dinner and now she had a meeting with the Director. She had the black case where three of the four Neanderthal skulls were safely stored, as well as her canvases which were rolled up in a plastic tube that had a carrying strap.

"Be good." She said as she made sure she had everything.

He grunted again. Which was man speak for _'I won't, but you won't catch me doing anything wrong_.' "Aren't you gonna be late Kitten?" He asked her.

She just shook her head and walked out of the house, closing the door on the angry man on the other side.

She walked to the garage. She couldn't take her bike and carry all of her stuff, so she was taking the SUV.

She drove away and wondered if Rogue was already on the bike and trying to follow her. Not that she minded, but she just hoped he would get over his protective streak. As nice as it was having someone concerned her safety, it felt a little stifling at times.

A blush rode up on her cheeks as she remembered him wrapping her up in his arms and kissing her. She had been shocked at first, but it had been nice. She had never had anyone kiss her before. There had been many who had tried, but she was usually able to avoid them easily. She just had never wanted to kiss anyone that she didn't have feelings for. Which she could then assume that she had feelings for Rogue since she hadn't tried to avoid his kiss, even though she knew he was going to kiss her.

She rolled this thought around in her head. It didn't bother her that he had kissed her. She hadn't even been sure if he actually could kiss her since he didn't technically have lips and his mouth was wider than hers was, but they were able to kiss, and the kiss had been intoxicating. She had wrapped her arms around his neck and never wanted to let go.

But then she didn't really know what to do after he kissed her. She was unsure of her own feelings and was unsure of what his feelings were. He had been frightened and worried. She knew that people tended to do strange things when they were emotional, so she wasn't sure if his reaction had just been because he had been so worried. So she had said the first thing that popped into her head which was she needed some sort of comfort food after what had happened today.

She wasn't unemotional. She had emotions, she just dealt with them differently than other people, which is why she came across as a little strange. She tended to act contrary to the norm in certain situations. When she had been hit by the car, she hadn't seen the car coming, so she had no real thoughts about the crash until it was over, and her first thought had been. _Well crap, now my uncle's car is trashed_; _I hope my mom doesn't find out cause she'd freak!_ followed by _I have to get home to Rogue so he won't worry and think I abandoned him._ Those had been her only thoughts until the pain kicked in. Of course by then there were people shouting at her and talking to her, and trying to get her out of the car, and flashing lights and people talking to her. After that it was all a jumble.

But last night had been different. When Raphael had left the alley she had a feeling that she was being watched, but had been distracted by the rose. She had picked it up because she had wondered briefly if it were for Rogue, but thought it was impossible that it could be. After all, someone would have to have known that he had ended up in the dumpster to begin with. But she couldn't help but feel that the rose was somehow for him, and that whoever had lain the rose here, believed him to be dead.

She had heard a voice then. It had been no more than a whisper, but she put the rose back and studied the alley. She seemed to remember that the fire escape had been pulled away from the building. It had been fixed, but did that mean that Raphael had fallen from the fire escape, or even the top of the building?

She looked from the building to the building across the alley, because something had caught her eye. There was a difference in the ornate bars on one of the windows, a difference in colour and shape. She had grabbed her bike and had found Raphael's other sai, which supported her theory that he had fallen and he had dropped his weapon.

She had heard more whispering then, and when she looked at the top of the building she had seen three shapes that did not look right. They were denser than the surrounding shadows.

She had and tucked the sai into her belt because her skin was starting to crawl. Whoever had been watching her was now moving and coming closer to her. And then it had all devolved into chaos because she wasn't going to give them the sai, because she had believed that they had been the ones who had hurt Raphael, the ones who had beaten him to within an inch of his life, and had left him in a dumpster to be crushed to death.

She had copied the grip and the stance that she had seen Raphael use, hoping to frighten them off by looking like she actually knew what she was doing. She had had to squash her fear and her panic down. She had grabbed all of her emotions and shoved them hard into a box in her head, because she they would not help her escape from the threat they had represented.

She had struggled when he had grabbed her and she had called for Rogue, and tossed him his sai, but by then she had noticed something about the man who held her. She had looked into his face, and even in the shadows she could see that he was not human, in fact he looked almost exactly like Rogue, but his mask had been blue. She had stopped fighting as her mind realized that they had found someone who knew Rogue, but whether or not they were friend or foe she was not sure until the blue one, Leo, had begun to talk. He had accused them and then just her of ridiculous things, but in the end, even though he held a sword to her throat, and cut her, she had seen the look in his eyes. He had been grief-stricken, angry, desperate and relieved. They had found their brother who they thought was dead, but the horror that filled his eyes when Leo realized that his brother didn't know them had nearly broke her heart.

Rogue didn't want anything to do with them, but she knew or rather hoped and suspected that it had all been a huge misunderstanding. But she had wanted to talk with them again and confirm her suspicions that Rogue's brothers weren't psychotic, but rather, lived a life that was full of too much violence and danger.

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><p><strong>I hope everyone enjoyed! thoughts opinions?<strong>


	13. Chapter 13

**A big thank you to Biocide for your review of chapter 11, and to Rocky181 and Chibiwolf33 for you reviews!**

**A/N I have taken a few liberties with the layout of the American Natural History Museum...(I don't really know where the offices are)**

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><p><span>Chapter 13<span>

**Leonardo** looked at his watch. He began to pace in agitation as he waited for April and Casey to confirm their location. Another wave of guilt and nausea rolled around in his gut as he tried to stamp the feeling down. He had spent the better part of last night in the bathroom retching his guts out at the thought that he had given Raphael up for dead. He had taken the word of a Purple Dragon and left his brother in the hands of their enemy, captive and probably tortured, for the last month. And it was all his fault. He had failed his brother again.

His thoughts had drifted back to the encounter with the woman last night. He had been so shocked that Raphael had been the one under the biker helmet that he had let his guard down and almost let the her go. He was lucky that she hadn't bolted, though he realized later that his scuffle with her had probably injured her.

Shock had turned into happiness, which had turned into horror at the realization that their brother had no idea who they were, or even who he was.

It had taken all of his willpower not to destroy the woman in his arms, the woman who had done that to his brother. But Donatello had realized that Raphael seemed to be protective of the woman, and that he would fight them to protect her, which meant if they harmed her, they would never get Raphael to trust them, so he had to let the woman go.

Leonardo's eyes flicked around the shadows which hid them, passing over his brother's tensely crouched forms. He felt as if they had to be walking into some sort of trap. Michelangelo had brought up the possibility that the woman could be an innocent bystander, and it wasn't a trap, but Leonardo wasn't convinced. The woman was not normal. She should have been terrified if she was just some innocent bystander, but she was completely unemotional, calm, and didn't even flinch when his sword bit into the flesh of her throat. She had to be a trained killer of some sort, a woman who knew and accepted that her death could and would eventually occur.

And yet his mind would slip back to her eyes. Her eyes had unnerved him. When he had looked into her eyes as his sword bit into her throat, she had been calmly studying him. He felt as if she had been striping away each layer of emotion, every feeling, every doubt, every weakness within him and lay bare his soul for her to see. Awareness had blazed through him as he looked into her eyes. But he had stomped the feeling down. Whatever it was. He could acknowledge that he was male and she was an extremely attractive woman who had felt warm in his arms, the heat from her body burning through his clothing, but that was all, because she was the enemy.

And yet, the look she had given him when she had walked away was one of not triumph over them, like he would have thought, instead her eyes had been thoughtful before she was wrapped within his brother's arm.

He had never seen Raphael do something like that. Raphael was immensely protective. He would stand in front of a blow, and shield you with his body, but he had never seen his brother hold someone possessively to him. Not that they tended to run into many human women, but still, it was out of character for him. Although he supposed his brother didn't know that since his memory had been completely wiped. But his brother was alive and they would get him back, and he would destroy the woman if he had to, no matter how pretty her eyes were or how good she smelled.

"Okay we're in position." April's voice said in his ear.

April and Casey had been at the lair when they had gotten back after finding and losing Raphael. They had been shocked and overjoyed that Raphael was alive, and determined on helping them get him back.

They had arrived two hours early. April and Casey were going to scout out the building from top to bottom. They were going to walk through the museum and keep an eye out for the woman or anyone else who may be suspicious. Then they would make their way back to the entrance of the building and watch for the woman to enter. They were back at the front entrance now not having discovered anything out of the ordinary.

But they still had an hour to wait. The 8:00 time frame had bothered him. The museum was still open to the public, but it was a weekday so close enough to closing time that there wouldn't be too many people about. Perhaps it was so that they would be unable to make a scene. He wasn't sure, but worry was beginning to make his skin crawl.

"Hey Leo, what's this chick look like again?" Casey's voice asked.

"She's small, shorter than us by a few inches, slightly tanned skin, long curly brownish, reddish-gold hair, unusually pretty." He said to him.

"I think I see her, I'm not sure though, but she's really hot, I mean like smokin hot. Ouch! April!" Casey complained.

"Leo, I think it's her. She's got a big black case and a long tube that she is carrying over her shoulder. She's walking with a slight limp." April said into his headset.

"That's her. She must be bringing in a sniper rifle. She must be a hired assassin of some sort, which may be why she didn't seem to know us. April can you follow her?" He asked.

"On it Leo, but she is going through an employee's only entrance. I'll see if we can get in." She said to him.

"Don't worry about it April, we're coming in. What part of the building is she going into?" He asked.

"She headed up to the third floor north-east corner." Casey told them.

"Stay on that level but don't follow her in." Leonardo looked at his brothers and nodded. There was a back entrance into the building. It was normally locked but a man was sitting outside having a smoke break.

They managed to create a distraction and then slip past the museum worker. They silently made their way up a side stairwell to the third floor. Casey and April were waiting for them.

"She slipped through that door." April said softly. Leonardo looked around. There were a few people but not many. The brochure had had a map of the museum and she had circled Gallery 3 on the third floor as their meeting place.

"The gallery is under construction right now." Casey said. "Lots of plastic and scaffolding."

Leonardo nodded. It would be the perfect location for an ambush. None of the public would be in the room, and lots of plastic for easy removal and cleanup. "You two stay here." He said as he motioned for his brothers to follow him.

"Leo, you think Raph is here somewhere?" Michelangelo asked quietly.

"I don't know Mikey, if he is, we'll get him and bring him home." He said softly as they opened the employee only door.

The corridors snaked around until they entered a large room that seemed to be holding bits and pieces of a new exhibit. They got as close as they could. The woman was talking to a man with a strong British accent.

They couldn't see get a visual on the man or the woman as they were positioned slightly behind a fake stone arch of some sort.

"I'm glad that your injuries were not too grievous." The man was saying. "I was quite concerned. You uncle would be quite displeased with me if anything were to happen to you."

"Yes well, it isn't as if you can predict those sorts of things." Came her reply. "I look at the bright side, I'm not dead, so it's all good." She said with what he would imagine to be a shrug.

"Well, as I said, I'm glad you sustained only minor injuries." He said to her.

"Me too, it would be very unfortunate if I couldn't finish what I came here to do." She said softly.

"You know, when your uncle recommended you for this job, I was quite sceptical." His voice said.

"I get that. People either think it is because of who my uncle is that I managed to get to where I am, or they underestimate me because I'm pretty."

The man coughed with embarrassment. "Well, I know that you have definitely earned your uncle's praise and I am so pleased with your results." They heard the clicking of the black case being opened. "I just can't believe what you did with him. I would never have recognized him. You did a superb and I believe, very accurate job. You've brought three of them here, and the fourth?"

"At home. I'll bring him back here when I am done with him. He really is a very fine specimen." She said happily.

"I agree. Very sturdy, very robust. I am very curious to see the finished product." He said to her, his tone conveying his pleasure.

Leonardo ground his teeth together in horror. This was all just a big game to them. His brother was nothing to them, just a specimen. But then who was her Uncle? Was Hun her uncle, or was she working for someone else, Stockman, Bishop, a new enemy?"

"We have a problem however." The man's voice turned worried.

'You're not going to use my work?" She asked softly.

"No, No, rather." He coughed again in embarrassment. "In case your uncle had misrepresented your abilities, I wanted to have a backup, and his work has proved to be...unsatisfactory." They heard something unrolling.

The woman let out a gasp of horror. "Oh no. That is awful." She said in a horrified whisper. "Was this...?" She didn't get a chance to finish.

"Yes." He said with regret. "He came highly recommended and I did not even review his work before giving the green light." He said softly. "I have made a few phone calls to stop this from going through but...I am sorry, I know you are quite busy with your current works, but I need a replacement and your work is exquisite. If you could spare the time to take this on, I would be most grateful."

"If my uncle saw this he would have an aneurism." She whispered.

"Your uncle is a very good friend of mine, and I know how much this means to him. He is, I believe, the best in the world at what he does, and it would hurt me greatly if he were to see all of his efforts fail because of one bad decision on my part."

"My uncle may also pull his funding as well." He heard the woman mumble. "Oh sorry I didn't mean that as a threat, just, I would hate to see that happen, but my uncle is very...temperamental, when he remembers that there is actually a world outside of his work." She paused. "I should be able to...Well, I'll have to start from scratch, because this is horrific. I should be able to do something though, even if it means putting my current project on hold. This is more important because this needs to go out soon so that it will be ready in time. Do you mind if I keep..."

"No no, go ahead, it isn't as if he is going anywhere." The British man chuckled. "I just find it funny that you named him."

"Well it was better than specimen A5260." She chuckled.

"Well don't get too attached. His destination is unfortunately a nice padded box with the other three."

"Well at least they will all be together." She laughed.

Leonardo felt his stomach roll. She was going to kill them, but play with Raphael a little longer and then kill him.

"You might as well hang on to this." There was a click of the case being closed. "And I am guessing you are going to visit Gallery 3 before you leave?" He questioned.

"Yup, I shouldn't be long, then I'm going home. I'll be back when I'm finished with this. I'll keep you posted on my progress."

"Be careful." He said seriously.

"I will, and thank you Gordon." She said softly.

"No, thank you. Say hi to your uncle the next time you hear from him. He's seems to have disappeared."

"Yes, well, you know him, but I'll say hi if he remembers to actually call me." She chuckled as she walked to the door.

They waited until Gordon and the woman left the room and quietly followed them out. A feeling of sick dread filling his gut. They met Casey and April.

"She went into Gallery 3." Casey said to them. "Wha'd you find out?"

"They are going to kill us, but keep Raph for a little longer to perform experiments on." Leonardo ground out in disgust.

"You sure Leo, she doesn't look like a hired killer to me." Casey said to him.

"I'm sure." Leonardo said softly. "But I don't think Raph's here, so we have to make her tell us where she's keeping him."

"Well then, let's go!" Casey said as he punched his fist anxiously.

"What's the plan Leo?" April asked, worry written on her face.

"Donny you are with me, Mikey go with Casey and April, sneak around back. There has to be another entrance into that room besides the construction door. Donny and I will draw her attention, and you three subdue her."

Michelangelo, April and Casey slipped through a side door. He walked with his brother staying as much to the shadows as they could. He felt uncomfortable being in such a public place. They were dressed in jeans, and hoodies with the hoods pulled up over the ball caps they wore, and dark sunglasses obscuring their eyes.

"I don't know Leo, something doesn't feel right about this." He said softly.

"I know Donny." He said because he didn't want to believe that they had either a new enemy or an old one that had managed to put them into a position where they may actually succeed in killing them. There was also a small irrational part of him that didn't want to believe that the woman who had looked into his eyes and laidd bare his soul could be a killer, but they had proof.

Leonardo drew his swords, Donatello already had his bow ready. They slipped through the construction door and carefully made their way silently through the room. His eyes roved over the scaffolding seeing if he could find where she had hidden herself. The black case and plastic tube were laying in the middle of the room.

"There you are." Her voice said from behind him.

Leonardo and Donatello tensed. She had gotten behind them. They would have to stall her until Michelangelo, April and Casey could take her out.

"I don't think you will need your weapons, could you please put them away." She said to them. He threw his swords on the ground in disgust. Donatello's' bow was thrown to the ground ontop of his Katanas. They both put their hands up as they slowly turned.

"Um...what are you doing?" She asked them. She was standing there, arms crossed over her chest, hip cocked to the side, and apparently unarmed.

He moved and grabbed at her, but this time she didn't struggle or try to get away. He had expected her to run, or turn, but because she didn't it meant that she was looking up at him as he crushed her to his body trapping her arms. He frowned in confusion.

"You guys really have some serious issues don't you?" She said to him. "And you're hurting me, so if you don't mind, could you please let me go?" She asked politely.

He looked down and looked into her eyes which were staring back at him with no emotion but curiosity. Her eyes were a brilliant moss green.

"Where is my brother?" He growled at her.

"He should be at home, but knowing him, he's probably followed me here and is making sure I don't do anything stupid, which apparently I have." She said looking at him.

"You're right you did something stupid. You decided to harm my family, and for that you are going to pay." He said his voice breaking with pent up emotion.

She tipped her head to the side as she assessed him. Her eyes shifted to Donatello. "He always this high strung and paranoid?" She asked him.

Donatello had picked up his bo and was clenching it in white knuckled hands. "What did you do to him?" Donatello whispered.

She assessed them. "Rogue...Raphael." She said correcting herself. "Doesn't want anything to do with you, because he seems to think you are psychotic. And although your actions would lead me to believe this assessment to be valid, I believe that instead, there has been a serious misunderstanding. Now I will say it again, you are hurting me, so please let me go." She said to him.

He gripped her tighter. She winced in pain. Good. He wanted her to know that he was serious in his intentions to make her pay for what she had done to his brother. "We know all about your plan." He growled at her. "We know how you have been using Raphael as your little guinea pig, and how you intend to kill us, and kill him eventually. We know that you are planning something big for your boss, your uncle. So tell me, who do you work for, who is your uncle, and why does he wants us dead?"

She looked at him in confusion. "I have no idea what you are talking about." She said in a strained voice.

He squeezed her tighter. "My only regret is that I didn't hurt you worse than I did." He whispered in her ear. "We overheard your little conversation with your boss. We know how you intend to put us, how did he put it, 'in a nice padded box.' Now no more games tell me what I want to know!"

"We just want our brother back." Michelangelo whispered softly. Leonardo hadn't even heard him approach. He looked over his shoulder. April and Casey were there as well. Casey was tapping a golf club against his hand.

"We wouldn't want to damage that pretty little face of yours, now would we?" He threatened. "So just tell us where Raph is."

The woman's eyes widened but no other emotion flickered on her face. She seemed to be assessing Michelangelo. She looked at him and frowned tipping her head to the side again. "Huh. Interesting." She said to him as pain exploded through him. He dropped to his knees in agony as he automatically clutched at his groin. "I did ask nice." She said as she darted away. She dodged past a surprised Donatello and ran towards the black case and rolled up tube. "Donny." He gasped out as he tried to stand.

"Did she just knee you in the balls?" Michelangelo asked as he helped him up.

"Just grab her!" He said as he ran after her. She snagged the black case and tube and ducked through a section of plastic.

They slowly began searching for her, Casey and April guarded the entrance, and Michelangelo guarded the back entrance they had entered through. She was trapped, they just had to find her.

He saw movement out of the corner of his eye. He launched himself at the woman and they went down in a heap. He landed on top of her and he grabbed her arms and held them over her head as he straddled her. She glared at him angrily her chest heaving. "Let me go." She said as she struggled. She winced in pain as she stopped struggling.

She had a white bandage around her throat where he had cut her. He glanced at the fallen case and plastic tube. They seemed to be important to her. "Donny check the case and the tube, be careful." He said not knowing what was in the case. He had thought it was the main body of a sniper rifle, but if it had been, it was strange that she hadn't used it.

She looked over at Donatello. "It's just a skull case." She said with a shake of her head. He looked at her in surprise. Donatello's hands paused on opening it as if he didn't want to see the skulls that were in the case from her previous 'projects'. "Great, that came out all wrong." She grumbled. "And don't touch that." She said as Donatello moved from the unopened case to the plastic roll. "Seriously, be careful with that!" She said as she struggled beneath him.

He looked down at her as she bucked beneath him in frustration.

"Leo." Donatello said softly.

He looked to what his brother had found. Donatello pulled out several thick canvases. He unrolled one and showed him a painting of a prehistoric scene, a human looking warily off the canvas at something they couldn't see. Donatello pulled the next one out which looked to be done by the same person. It was of a human standing before a cave painting, or the beginnings of one. The third painting was of a woman laying flowers and other offerings over a mound or rocks in a cave. Leonardo looked around him. He studied the stone arch. There were the beginnings of what looked to be a cave wall with the same cave paintings. A niggling feeling of doubt began to seep into his brain. He looked at the last drawing.

"Some idiot painted that, can you believe it?" She said with a shake of her head. There was a caveman holding a club wearing a leopard skin. "There were never Leopards in Europe." She grumbled. "Unprofessional. He should have at least done some research, just because Neanderthals are supposed to be the typical 'caveman' doesn't mean that it was the reality."

Donatello slowly rolled up the canvasses with shaking hands. He turned his attention to the case and popped it open. There were three skulls, all in various degrees of completion, the rest had been filled in an approximation of what the skull should look like.

He looked down at her in shock. "You..." He began.

"Off." She ordered him.

He scrambled off of her. "Ow." She said as he helped her up. She pulled away from him.

She backed away from him, her limp more pronounced. He caught a glimpse of deep purple bruising on her side. He hadn't realized he had hurt her so badly.

She walked over to Donatello. "I've got to go." She said as she gently put the canvases back in the plastic artist tube. She closed the case with the skulls. "I tried. I thought maybe you would be okay, that Ro...Raphael should give you a chance, but maybe I was wrong." She said as she limped to the exit.

_She was innocent? She couldn't be just an innocent woman. They had heard her plotting with the British man. They couldn't be wrong, could they?_

"Wait!" Michelangelo said desperately.

"8875, highway 23 A, Hunter." She said as she walked away.

"You gonna just let her go?" Casey asked him in surprise.

He frowned in confusion. Nothing made any sense. "Donny?" He asked his younger brother.

"She gave us an address." Donatello said as he pulled out a GPS unit. "It's about two hours outside of the city. It looks like a secluded area." He said as he looked at him.

"Donny are we wrong?" He asked his younger brother. "Is it a trap, a lure to get us to a location they need us to be at? Was the purpose of this meeting to try let our guard down?"

"I don't know Leo. I suppose it's possible." His brother said with a frown. "We don't know anything about what is going on. All I know is that she talks with a accent, probably western Canadian. But we don't have any names except for the British man, Gordon. And we don't even know if that is his realy name. We didn't even get a look at him."

He nodded. They would go home, plan and prepare.

* * *

><p><strong>Well that didn't go well for our boys. LOL hope everyone enjoyed this chapter!<strong>


	14. Chapter 14

**I apologize for the super long chapter!**

**Thank you to Outasync and Chibiwolf33 for your reviews!**

**And now on with the show!**

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><p><span>Chapter 14<span>

**Leonardo** woke up a few hours later. He had spent most of the night tossing and turning. He couldn't stand the idea of his brother being treated like a specimen, like a science experiment. He just couldn't let himself believe that she was just an innocent woman in all this. It had to be a trap orchestrated by persons unknown. They had to find Raphael and bring him back home, by force if necessary.

He just wished he could get thoughts of the woman out of his head. He could still remember the feel of her beneath him and for some reason that image sent a rush of heat through him.

He finally got up and began a set of training routines until his brothers woke up. They were going to head out early. Casey and April were going to stay here for when they brought Raphael home. He looked at the zip ties and rope that Donatello was packing into the back of their armoured truck. He shuddered at the thought of having to restrain Raphael, but it would be for his own good. Leonardo knew if they found Raphael he wouldn't come willingly, so they were going to have to take him by force.

"You okay Leo?" Michelangelo asked him. "You don't look so good."

"I'll be fine Mikey. We're going to get him back." He said with determination.

Donatello looked at him and frowned. "I'm fine Donny, just concentrate on finding any surveillance equipment or alarms and disabling them. Mikey, just concentrate on driving."

They both nodded but still looked at him with worry. His vision wavered for a moment and he shook his head clearing it.

He jumped into the passenger seat of the truck.

"Good luck, and be careful." April said to them.

"Bring 'im back." Casey said, cclasping Leonardo's shoulder tightly and then letting it go..

He nodded and closed the door.

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><p><strong>Leonardo<strong> looked at Donatello who was looking around and frowning. "My readings indicate that there doesn't appear to be any unusual levels of electricity. There doesn't appear to be any alarms or surveillance equipment." Donatello said as he looked at Leonardo.

They were quietly making their way through the dense forest that surrounded the property. There hadn't seemed to be any structures of any kind to indicate any sort of defensible compound. All there had been was a barbed wire fence surrounding the property. But this didn't mean that it wasn't some sort of holding facility, after all, it wasn't like Raphael _wanted_ to escape. Sometimes all that was needed were mental bars to keep someone prisoner.

They made their way around the side of the house to the rear hoping to sneak in the back door.

He paused when Raphael and the woman came into view. They were both outside. Raphael was wearing just his jeans leaving his chest bare, while the woman was wearing a pair of jeans and a yellow t-shirt. She had a piece of wide leather around one arm and a strange two fingered glove on the other.

"Kitten, I don't like this one bit." Raphael growled.

"What?" She asked curiously.

"It just seems like a bad idea. You are going to get hurt, even more hurt than you already are. That guy did a number on you." He said to her.

Leonardo's eyes widened. _His brother was in on the plan?_ But it made sense. Raphael didn't know that _she_ was the enemy, not them. His vision became blurry. He closed his eyes, waiting for his vision to focus again.

"Ra.." She said to him.

"Kit." He barked harshly.

"Rogue," She continued. "I know you don't want to talk about it, but..."

"I don't want to be associated, or have anythin' to do with those guys. They are insane! End of Story! I mean, look what that guy did to you." He said as he reached out and tipped her head up exposing the white bandage around her throat.

"I already told you, I'm fine." She said as she pulled away from his touch.

"Yeah? And what if they find me huh? What if they decide to try to take me from here and end up hurting you, or worse, just killing you?" He asked fiercely.

"Now you are beginning to sound melodramatic." She said with a shake of her head.

"Kitten." He growled at her.

"You don't have to go anywhere you don't want to. I believe that they are just very concerned about your welfare, that is all. I think you inhabit a world very unlike my own." She said as her fingers gently traced the scars on his arm. "After all, you didn't get all of these by leading a quiet life." She said softly.

She pulled her hand away. "Alright, let's see if I can do this." She said as she picked something off the ground. She held up a bow.

"I still don't see why you want to play around with that thing, especially this early in the morning." He grumbled as she slung a quiver of arrows over her shoulder and onto her back.

"Well it isn't like I woke you up. You didn't have to follow me you know." She pointed out reasonably.

"You woke me up by not being there." He growled. "I got used to having you there in the morning Kitten, when you weren't there, I got worried."

Leonardo's jaw fell open in shock. They weren't...His mind stalled at the implications that his brother may be more than just fiercely protective of her. His brother may actually be in some sort of physical relationship with this woman.

Michelangelo made a hastily silenced choking noise.

His brother couldn't be...could he? He had never thought about having a physical relationship with a woman. He didn't even think one was possible. _Could they actually have a physical relationship with a human woman? _He wondered.

They were not human, they lived in a sewer and were mutant turtles. No woman was going to ever look at them without revulsion and disgust. And besides this huge gaping obstacle, he knew that their lives were too dangerous to even think about bringing a woman into. And yet. His mind flashed to the woman as she lay beneath him, looking up at him. Heat blazed through him.

He looked at Donatello who looked back at him with grim shock. This was suddenly a much more complicated situation than what they thought. If Raphael had strong feelings for her, there was no way they were going to be able to get him away from her. Raphael would fight tooth and nail to protect her.

Katherine drew back an arrow and let it fly at a target. It hit the bulls eye. "Ouch." She said as she shook out her hand.

"I told you that you're still hurt. You nearly died." He said angrily.

"But I didn't, besides, you can try to tell me to take it easy all you want, but I seem to remember you not listening to me when I told you to take it easy either, so now I guess we are even. Though I would like to think I was not as cranky as you were." She said as she notched another arrow pulled it back and shot it. Again it struck its mark.

"You want to try?" She asked Raphael.

"Only if it will stop you from doin it." He grumbled as he grabbed the bow from her.

The woman looked over her shoulder and looked right at him. Which was impossible because they were very well hidden in the dense brush.

Raphael shot a few arrows all missing their mark. "Well, practice does make perfect." She said.

"This is the stupidest weapon ever. Now these, these are a weapon." He said as he brought out his sais.

"If you want to skewer someone I suppose." She said with a shake of her head.

"So what's with the change of routine Kitten? The director of the museum's given you more work, so now I gotta stare at the two creepy ass skulls again."

"Awh you don't like Luc, and Brumhilda?" She asked playfully.

"And why you gotta give them stupid names?" He asked.

She chuckled. "They aren't creepy ass, and their names are better than A5260 and Dolphers cave #792. I am trying to bring them to life, so I give them names. Now I just have to figure out how to convey that the two were lovers without actually conveying it." She said as she pulled back the bow again. However this time she shot three arrows one after the other in a blur of speed, all hitting the center of the target, all clustered together touching each other.

"Give me that." Raphael growled.

"Do you want to be my lover?" She asked suddenly. Raphael had just drawn back the bow string.

'What!" He asked in shock as he let go of the string the arrow went wild. "Damn!" Raphael swore as he shook out his arm in pain.

The woman looked after the arrow as Leonardo blushed. Now he felt like a pervert, peeping in on his brother's relationship. But at least his brother wasn't sleeping with her. It meant that they may be able to take him with only a huge amount of resistance, rather than an unassailable amount.

"Well I'm never going to be able to find that arrow." She said with a shake of her head. She turned her attention back to Raphael who was looking at her in shock and with some other emotion that Leonardo was too far away to interpret. "Are you okay? That's why I wear a guard on my arm so I don't do what you just did." She said pulling up his arm and inspecting it.

"Kitten." Raphael said softly.

She looked up at him. "Why are you looking at me like that? Oh right, sorry lost my train of thought. Lover. If you could pose for me it would help me out. You have a very short but robust muscular build, I figure if I can sketch you as Luc then all I will have to really work on will be Brumhilda."

"Sure Kitten." He replied softly.

Donatello began backing away slowly. He followed his brother.

"I think we've heard enough Leo. This woman is obviously no threat to us or to Raph."

"Yeah, and Raph has it bad for her." Michelangelo put in quietly.

This sent a burst of some unidentified emotion through him. He nearly stumbled, but he was able to right himself. His vision fogged and he rested his hand against a tree.

"You okay Leo?" Donatello asked him in concern.

"Yes, just relieved Donny." He said softly.

They walked back to their truck and drove slowly up to the house.

"Hey Donny, can we actually, you know...have a physical relationship with a human woman?" Michelangelo asked curiously.

Donatello's eye ridges rose in surprise, but he thought the question over. "We would be capable yes. Of course we aren't human, so a woman would have to be okay with that." Donatello said with a shrug.

Michelangelo fell into a thoughtful silence while Leonardo wondered at the implications that they could actually have a physical relationship with a human woman.

They got out of the truck and walked to the back of the house. They walked past a wreck of a car. The whole driver's side was just a twisted hunk of metal. Leonardo fuzzily wondered if whoever had been driving actually managed to survive. He didn't think it was likely though. He shivered a little.

The woman was standing, watching them approach, bow in hand. She had, of course, heard them coming. Of Raphael there was no sign.

Raphael emerged suddenly from the shadows. His sais were clenched tightly in his hands as he blocked the woman from view with his body. He glared at them, teeth clenched together, every line of his body tightened in anticipated violence.

"Run Kitten, get into the house, lock the door." Raphael said to her.

"Rogue. I told them where you were." She said softly.

He looked over his shoulder at her in shock. "You did what!" He yelled.

"Don't look at me like I've just betrayed you. They aren't here to take you away. We are all going to sit down and have a nice civil conversation." She said seriously. Her eyes turned to Leonardo, they glittered dangerously. "You may be his family, but if you try to take him against his will, I will shoot you." She threatened, her voice emotionless, eyes turning from dangerous to empty.

Leonardo's eyes widened in shock. "And if he comes willingly?" He asked curtly.

"If he wishes to go with you, I cannot stop him." She said softly. "Now, I believe introductions are in order. My name is Katherine Brooks." She said as she leaned the bow against a chair. She pulled the quiver from her back and placed it beside her bow.

Raphael had not put his sais away. He pulled Katherine close and wrapped her in his arms sais still clenched in his hands.

"My name is Leonardo." He began softly. "This is Donatello, and Michelangelo."

"Renaissance artists." She looked up at Raphael and smiled. "See, I like your name even better now." Raphael just grunted as he watched them suspiciously. "Well it is nice to meet you, come on." She said as she ducked from Raphael's protective hold. "The house is kinda muggy, so if you don't mind, we can sit out here and have a nice little chat." She gestured to some chairs that had been set up.

They sat down. "I'll be right back." She said cheerfully.

"I'm coming with you Kitten." Raphael growled as he finally stuck his sais in his belt.

"You can stay here Rogue. But I think I'll take...Michelangelo, with me. Do you mind?" She asked his baby brother.

Michelangelo blinked in shock, but nodded and stood.

Leonardo could hear Raphael growling low in his throat. Raphael threw himself in a chair and glared at him.

"You even move funny, and I beat the crap out of you." Raphael growled.

Leonardo smiled because it reminded him so much of their fights that it was nice to hear his brother threatening him.

"What, you think that's funny?" Raphael asked angrily.

"Raph, what happened to you?" Donatello asked softly.

Raphael's eyes flicked to Donatello. He crossed his arms over his chest. "Rogue." Raphael said angrily.

Donatello exchanged a looked with him and turned his attention back to Raphael. "Okay then, Rogue, what happened to you?" Donatello asked again.

"No idea." Raphael said with a shrug.

"What is the last thing you remember?" Donatello urged.

"There is no last thing I remember. I remember Kitten, that's it. That is my first memory. The only thing I remember was thinking I was dead, but I really didn't understand why I was thinkin' that, except that it hurt too much to be conscious."

Donatello frowned. "So you have complete amnesia, but you remember how to wield your sais, and you seem to have no other brain injuries."

"Apparently." Raphael growled.

"It's because Raph has a hard head." Michelangelo piped in as he placed a tray on the small table that had been set up.

Raphael glared at Michelangelo. "Don't call me by that name." Raphael said angrily.

Michelangelo paused and studied Raphael, he frowned but nodded slowly.

Leonardo looked at what Katherne and Michelangelo brought was a jug of lemonade and a plate of cookies, and other various baked goods.

Raphael perked up. "When'd you have time to bake Kitten?" He asked as Katherine put some plates and glasses on the table.

"Just because you sleep half the day away doesn't mean I do." She said to him.

Raphael paused with a square of some sort halfway to his mouth. "You get up too damn early in the morning Kitten." He said as he popped the square into his mouth.

"Yes well, you think all the food I cook for you magically just makes itself?"

"Of course not! I know it doesn't." Raphael growled.

Katherine poured Leonardo a glass of lemonade and he took a sip, watching his brother carefully.

"Katherine, do you know what happened to Ra...Rogue?" Donatello asked quietly.

Katherine put down the pitcher and frowned. He took another sip of lemonade. It was unusually hot out this early in the morning. He took another gulp.

Katherine did not sit, she also didn't pour herself anything to drink, and she wasn't eating what she had given them. Leonardo frowned.

"I know he was beaten to within an inch of his life." She said softly.

Leonardo's vision wavered. He suddenly felt cold. He felt as if his body was going numb. He looked at the wavering glass of lemonade.

"P...poisoned." He said as he managed to scramble to his feet as horror rode through him. He syumbled back a few steps.

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><p><strong>Donatello's<strong> eyes widened as Leonardo whispered, "P...poisoned." Leonardo quickly stood and stumbled back. He drew his Katanas, the blades shaking in his hands.

"Give me a break." Katherine said as she grabbed Leonardo's glass. "I didn't poison you." She drank down the rest of the glass. 'See?" Katherine said as she frowned, tipping her head to the side as she assessed Leonardo.

Donatello slowly stood. He felt fine, and Katherine had just downed the rest of Leonardo's glass of lemonade.

Katherine strode up to Leonardo who stumbled back as if trying to get away from her. She ignored his brother's swords which were crossed in front of him defensively. She grabbed his arm stopping his progress. Leonardo looked down at her, closed his eyes, and slumped forward. She tried to catch his weight but he was too heavy and they fell to the ground in a jumbled heap.

"Leo!" Michelangelo exclaimed.

"Kitten!" Raphael said at the same time.

"Ow." Katherine said from beneath Leonardo's fallen body.

Michelangelo helped him to heave Leonardo's unconscious body off of Katherine. Raphael pulled her up and looked her over.

"Are you okay." He asked her softly stroking a thumb across her cheek.

"Yes, but he's not." She said pointing to Leonardo. She pulled from Raphael's grip and walked over to Leonardo. She gently touched his forehead with the back of her hand and slid her hand down to his cheek. "He's got a fever. A really bad one. You guys seem to run colder than humans, and he feels hot to me." She said to them.

Donatello got Michelangelo to help lay Leonardo down on the ground. He felt his brother's forehead which was burning beneath his hand. He looked at Michelangelo with worried eyes.

"Can we take him into the house?" Donatello asked Katherine.

Katherine nodded as they picked Leonardo up off the ground. Raphael grabbed his brother's katanas and followed as Katherien led the way into the house.

They gently deposited Leonardo onto a brown couch in the living room.

Katherine looked at Donatello in concern. "He feels really warm." She said to him. He nodded. Leonardo felt too warm. "Do you know what your 'danger' zone is? For humans if you hit about 105 degrees you are in trouble."

Donatello looked at her. She seemed to have some medical knowledge, which considering how badly Raphael had probably been beaten, was lucky for him.

He looked at Leonardo who was too pale, yet flushed. He had begun to shiver. He looked at Katherine and she nodded seeming to catch onto his thoughts without even speaking them.

"Upstairs." She said as he got Michelangelo to help him haul their semi-conscious brother upstairs, Katherine leading the way.

She led them though a bedroom and into a bathroom. She was already drawing the water. They set Leonardo down beside the tub.

"Rogue, ice." Katherine said to Raphael who had followed them.

"Kit..." He began. But took one look at her face, nodded and ran down the stairs.

Raphael came back moments later with a couple bags of ice. He ripped them open and threw them into the tub.

"No, not in here." Katherine said with a shake of her head ss Michelangelo moved to lift Leonardo.

Donatello nodded. "We'll put him on the bed. We throw him in the tub and his body could go into shock." They heaved their brother up and moved him to the bed.

"Rogue, help me?" Katherine asked as she strode from the room, Raphael following.

Donatello looked at Leonardo and got Michelangelo to help him strip his brother down to his boxers.

Katherine returned with a few towels in her hands. She walked into the bathroom and returned a moment later, the towels dripping wet. Raphael came into the room with a wad of thick plastic and a sheet. They lifted Leonardo up and put down the plastic and sheet.

"This may help." Katherine said as she touched Leonardo's forehead again. She nodded and they placed the cold wet towels over Leonardo's prone form.

Leonardo's eyes shot open. He began struggling against them. "Leo calm down, you have to just calm down, I know it's cold, but you have to trust me. You have a fever, and we need to bring it down." Donatello said to his brother as he thrashed.

"Little help Ra...Rogue." Michelangelo said in a strained voice as they fought with Leonardo.

Raphael stepped up to the bed and shoved Leonardo down hard. Leonardo looked at Raphael in confusion and closed his eyes slipping back into unconsciousness.

"How long we gotta leave 'im covered like this?" Raphael asked him.

"About 20 minutes." Donatello said as he looked over at his shivering brother.

Donatello frowned as he looked at Katherine's side. Her shirt had pulled itself up and he could see a massive purplish black bruise on her side.

"Are you okay?" He asked in concern. She frowned at him in question. "You're side." He said pointing at her hip. She looked down at hip. He didn't think, he just reached over and pulled her shirt up. He sucked in a breath as he saw the dark purple bruising that moved up her side. He kept lifting the shirt up because the bruising kept working its way up.

"Let go of her shirt. " Raphael growled at him.

He blinked in confusion as he realized he was exposing the soft curve of her breast. He dropped her shirt as if it had burned him. 'Sorry." He mumbled. "I didn't realize that Leo hurt you so badly." He said softly as his angry brother advanced threateningly towards him. Katherine gently touched Raphael's shoulder to halt his advance towards him.

"Leonardo hurt me, but I was already bruised." She said with a shrug as if it were unimportant. "What do you suppose is wrong with him?" She asked motioning towards Leonardo.

He turned his attention back to his brother. Michelangelo had removed the towels. "He hasn't looked well these last two days, but...I don't know what he is sick _with_." He said softly. "He was acting very unusual this morning, but..." Donatello looked at Raphael. "Leo hasn't been the same since we thought Raph was dead." He said softly. 'None of us has, really, and when we thought Raph was being held prisoner, had who knows what done to him for over a month..." Donatello heard his voice crack as he tried and failed to contain the flood of emotion that ran through him at the knowledge that his brother was safe and sound and had recovered from whatever ordeal he had been through.

"Perhaps then the ailment may be more mental than physical." Katherine said thoughtfully. "If he hasn't been taking care of himself, it is possible his body has just had enough and is forcing him to rest."

Donatello frowned. "I suppose it is possible." He said looking at his pale brother who had finally stopped shivering. He walked over and touched his brother's forehead. It was still over warm, but it did not seem as severe. "He seems to be getting better." He said.

Katherine nodded. "Well, if he is that sick you really shouldn't move him. You can stay here until he feels better. There are a few extra bedrooms, but you guys will have to double up." Katherine said to him.

He looked at her in shock. _Just yesterday they had been threatening her, and Leonardo obviously aggravated injuries she had already had, and she was offering to let them stay?_ "We..." He looked at Leonardo. It would be better if they didn't have to move him, but..."We can't impose like that." He said softly.

She just shrugged. "I already have one houseguest, what are three more? Besides, Rogue should get to know you better anyway. Maybe being around you will trigger something. And it isn't as if you are going to get Rogue to go home with you willingly." She pointed out reasonably.

"I am standing right here Kitten." Raphael growled in irritation. She just smiled at him.

He nodded thoughtfully as he reassessed Katherine. She was young, beautiful _and_ intelligent. He was liking her already. She also seemed incredibly practical and caring.

"You never did tell us how you came upon R-Rogue" Michelangelo said softly, the strange name obviously not coming easily to his brother's lips.

"She found me in a dumpster. The garbage truck driver was dumpin' the dumpster and she saw me. Managed to get the guy to stop and she pulled me out. Brought me back here. Fixed me up. End of story." Raphael said abruptly.

Katherine laughed and shook her head. "Sure sure, make it sound all easy. Do you have any idea how heavy you are?" She asked him as she poked him in the chest. "I lugged your sorry, broken ass in here, put your shoulder back in its socket and dragged you upstairs where you lay there unconscious for 12 days. That was not easy." She said playfully. "Then all you did was whine when you woke up. He makes for a very cranky patient." She said as she turned her attention away from Raphael and back to him, green eyes smiling.

Donatello grinned back at her. "Yes, he is not a very good patient."

"You're one to talk Kitten, I seem to remember you not listening to me after your accident. You wanted to get out of bed and get back to working on your paintings. You weren't an easy patient either." Raphael protested.

Donatello connected the dots then. "You were in that car." He said in shock.

Raphael turned his honey brown gaze upon him. "Yeah, she was in it. Didn't even go to the hospital." He growled as Raphael's gaze shifted back to Katherine.

"I wasn't that hurt." She said with a shrug.

Raphael glared down at her. "Not that hurt my ass." He said to her angrily.

Katherine smiled at Raphael innocently.

"Wow, you guys sound like an old married couple." Michelangelo said as he looked back and for between Raphael and Katherine. They both looked at Michelangelo in shock, bushes blooming on both their cheeks.

Raphael turned his attention to Leonardo. "So where we movin him to?" He asked with irritation.

Donatello looked at Katherine.

"We'll just leave him. It's the biggest room and has the couch and bathroom." She said with a shrug, then frowned. "I'm going to have to figure something out for dinner." She said as she thoughtfully walked from the room. She popped her head back in a second later. "Just a warning I am a horrible hostess, so just treat this place like home." She disappeared again.

"Well Rogue, I gotta say, she's something." Michelangelo said looking thoughtfully at the door.

Raphael glared at Michelangelo. Michelangelo looked at Raphael and launched himself at him. Raphael was so surprised that he stumbled back and tripped tumbling them both to the ground in a heap.

"I'm so glad you're alive and weren't tortured!" Michelangelo said as he hugged Raphael close.

Raphael struggled. "Get off me." Which was actually a very Raphael-like response.

Michelangelo clung to their brother harder.

Raphael let out a huff of defeat. "I'm glad I ain't dead either, okay? Now get off me." He growled.

Michelangelo grinned happily and rolled off of Raphael. Michelangelo helped him up. "But you can forget about me sharin a room with you." Raphael said with a shake of his head.

Michelangelo laughed. "That's okay Rogue, I know exactly who you want to share a room with." He chuckled. "Rogue and Katherine sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S...Ow!" Michelangelo said as he rubbed his arm where Raphael had punched him.

"Huh. That felt kinda familiar, com'ere let me do that again." He said as Michelangelo ran laughing from the room.

Donatello lost his smile and looked at Raphael seriously. Raphael turned his attention from the now empty doorway. "What?" Raphael asked.

"How badly were you hurt Rogue?" He asked.

Raphael frowned at him. "So what are you supposed to be, the doctor?" Raphael asked almost defensively.

Donatello nodded. "I'm the one who's stitched you up, bandaged all of your injuries and set all of your broken bones." He said softly.

Raphael looked at him in shock. "Hmph." He said crossing his arms over his chest.

"But it looks like you were lucky. Very lucky." He said quietly.

"Yeah. I guess so. I guess I could be dead, or I suppose some sort of lab experiment. I just didn't think that my life was so dangerous, though I should have guessed just by looking at all of my scars." He looked at Donatello and sighed. "Dislocated shoulder, sprained wrist, something with my ankle, the tendon wasn't where it should have been, what else...probably a few broken ribs, bruises, bashed my head pretty good. Kitten thinks the helmet I was wearing saved my life. The helmet and jacket I was wearing were tossed in the dumpster by the garbage truck driver, so I never saw it."

Donatello gasped in horror. His brother was lucky to be alive, especially without proper medical care. But the young gang member seeing Raphael's helmet and coat go into the truck made sense now.

"And like Kitten said, I was unconscious for 12 days." He said looking over at Leonardo's prone form.

Donatello's eye ridges rose. He was impressed. Katherine had obviously a great deal of medical knowledge to have treated his brother so well. His estimation of her rose, but he was concerned about her. She was hurt in a car accident, and according to Raphael, hadn't sought medical attention. He frowned. "Do you think she would let me look over her injuries?" He asked his brother.

Raphael's eyes narrowed but he shrugged. "Good luck with that. If you can get her to sit still long enough, I guess you could try." Raphael said looking at the large canvas that had been moved to the side of the room. It was blank.

He gave a thoughtful nod as he turned his attention to Leonardo. He spotted a chair and pulled it up beside the bed. He could feel Raphael staring at him. "What?" He asked.

Raphael shook his head and headed for the door.

* * *

><p><strong>Poor Leo. He's not feeling very good. And Raph is not a happy Hope everyone enjoyed the chapter!<strong>

**A/N the 'specimen' names of the Neanderthal skulls I made up...just saying.**


	15. Chapter 15

**I hope everyone is enjoying the story so far...**

**Just wanted to thank my lovely reviewers Outasync, Trunksymia, Chibiwolf33, Biocide, Rocky181 and D'fuentes!**

**And now...on with the story!**

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><p><span>Chapter 15<span>

**Leonardo** was so hot but couldn't figure out how it was possible to be so cold at the same time. Nothing made any sense. His mind felt muggy, as if it wasn't working properly. He knew he had to escape, but he didn't know where he had to escape _from._ And he wasn't sure why he had to escape either.

But he did have a fuzzy image in his head. He swore he had seen Raphael's face, but that was impossible, because Raphael was dead.

* * *

><p><strong>Rogue<strong> began to pace. He was getting frustrated and he just wished his 'brothers' would leave. He missed having Katherine all to himself and now her attention was split between himself and Leonardo, the one lying upstairs in his bed, or what he had begun to think of as his bed.

Donatello was downstairs getting something to eat. It was just past dinner and Katherine had made lasagne and garlic bread. It had been so good he had eaten until he was overfull, and so had his 'brothers'. It was a good thing Katherine had made two pans because between himself and Michelangelo they had devoured one pan between the two of them.

Katherine was upstairs keeping an eye on Leonardo and sketching or doing something to do with her new painting project. Michelangelo was in the living room which was where he was as well. Somehow he felt like a fifth wheel with nothing to do.

Michelangelo was frowning at the TV. "I can't believe Katherine doesn't have cable, or even satellite out here!" He exclaimed as he looked through the small movie collection. "And not a single game console in sight!" He exclaimed in horror. "I mean what have you been two been doing for fun around here?" He asked him. It was then Michelangelo smirked and laughed. "Never mind. I can guess what you too have been doing."

He glared at him. "Get your head outta the gutter. I haven't touched her." He grumbled.

Michelangelo flopped down on the couch, his expression turning serious. Rogue frowned because he had the impression that this was not a normal occurrence for him. Michelangelo had been driving him nuts all day, poking and teasing him until he was close to his breaking point. And yet it had felt almost familiar somehow.

"I'm glad you're alive Ra...Rouge." He said softly. "I realize I was walking a pretty dark path. I was walking your path. I never really realized how much you always made me walk in the light, until you weren't there to stop me from slipping towards the dark." He looked at him solemnly. "I was going to kill them all, if I could find them. I was going to get revenge because I knew that was what you would have wanted. I did things, things I'm not proud of while searching for your killers. Given enough time, I would have found them, and I wouldn't have hesitated to end their lives like they ended yours. But in the end, I don't think it would have made any of the grief or pain at your loss, go away. I think instead, a giant hole would have opened up inside me and swallowed me whole. Leo was trying to warn me, so was Donny, but I just couldn't stop, wouldn't listen. I think I was actually trying to _be_ you. But I can't be you. I could never be you, or do what you've done."

Rogue frowned and became uncomfortable. He again wondered what type of person he was. And again thought that he probably didn't want to know.

"So tell me, what's taking you so long? You always charge head first into everything without thinking. So why are you treading so carefully now?" Michelangelo asked him.

"What?" He asked in confusion.

"We've never met anyone Rogue." He began softly.

Rogue frowned, not knowing what he meant. "What do you mean?" He voiced his question out loud.

"We don't encounter many humans, and the ones we do meet are usually trying to kill us, or do horrible things to us. We have a few human friends, but...we've never met any women who would be considered, I don't know, girlfriend material. I mean, I don't think any of us has ever really thought about having a relationship, let alone a physical relationship, with a human woman. Truthfully I didn't even think one was possible."

Rogue's eye ridges rose in shock. "Is it?" He asked softly. He had never really thought about actual physical compatibility except that he wanted to feel her beneath him.

"Donny says yes." Michelangelo said with a shrug.

Rogue studied Michelangelo. "Okay, so our love lives suck, why are you tellin' me this?" He asked.

"Because I can see you have it bad for her, and like I said, I'm wondering why it is taking you so damn long to do something about it?" Michelangelo asked him, eye ridge raised in question.

Rogue could feel his cheeks beginning to warm. "That's none of your damn business." He growled.

"Sorry bro, it is. I am your brother. Kitten seems nice, she's smart, hot, and for some reason, actually seems to like you." Michelangelo pointed out.

Raphael glared at him for calling Katherine by the nickname he had given her. It had taken him over a month to call her by that name and here he was calling her by that nickname a few hours after they had decided that Katherine wasn't the enemy.

Michelangelo chuckled. "You should see how jealous you are right now. I am telling you, if you love her, just tell her. Take it from someone who knows that there is probably never going to be a woman who looks at me like Kitten looks at you" He said softly.

Rogue snorted. "You're imaginin' things." He said, because it was better than allowing himself to hope.

"Raph," Michelangelo said, using the name that felt like nails on a chalkboard to him. "I know you don't remember anything, but...We get threatened a lot, it is practically a daily occurrence. 'I'll crush you four turtle freaks!' 'I'm going to cut you up into little bitty bits and find out what makes you tick.' Things like that, you get used to it. But the threat Katherine gave us." Michelangelo shook his head. "She's Canadian, she probably has never even see a gun, let alone seen or been exposed to the type of violence we have. I don't know if she would have killed us, but she would have shot us to protect you. And she let us know that she was fully capable of being deadly with her weapon of choice. She knew we were spying on you. I don't know how she did, but the look in her eyes when she threatened us gave me chills. Actually it still give me goose bumps just thinking about the look in her eyes. See, look." Michelangelo showed him his arm which had goose bumps.

"Kitten made a promise, and she is just determined to keep it." He said softly.

Michelangelo snorted and shook his head in disbelief.

* * *

><p><strong>Leonardo<strong> was standing in the bathroom. He actually didn't remember walking into the bathroom, but he was staring at himself in the mirror. His image was fuzzy as if he was having a hard time focusing. He looked at the tantō blade in his hand. He didn't know why he had it. His vision swam again. He vaguely remembered Raphael's face floating in front of his, and he remembered then that he had killed his brother. He had not wielded the weapon himself, but he might as well have. He was responsible and it was time for him to pay for this crime. His honour demanded it. _That must be why he had the blade in his hand_.

He frowned as he wondered how he would kill himself. His plastron prevented himself from engaging in _seppuku;_ Slitting his wrists seemed a rather slow way to go, though he supposed considering what his brother suffered in his final moments, it was nothing. But his brothers may find him and be able to save him, and he did not wish for that. He wondered then if he could manage to slit his own throat, and thought it unlikely. But perhaps he could manage to strike his heart if he aimed his tantō above his plastron and struck down. He placed the blade upon the flesh of his chest.

* * *

><p><strong>Katherine<strong> had just stepped out for a moment to grab some fresh sheets for her unexpected houseguest. Truthfully though, her fingers were itching to sketch Leonardo. His eyes were much the same as Rogue's. There was so much emotion in his eyes that all she wanted to do is capture it with her pencil.

She frowned as she entered the room and looked at the bed. It was empty. She saw the bathroom door open a crack and she wondered if he was using it. She changed the sheets and left the dirty ones in a pile on the floor.

She looked at the door as indecision rode over her. She didn't want to bother him, and yet at the same time she wanted to make sure he was okay. She made her way slowly to the door and knocked. There was no answer. She frowned and slowly opened the door figuring that he would notice the door moving. "Leonardo, are you okay?" She asked as she knocked. There was no answer so she pushed the door all the way open. Leonardo was sitting on the edge of the tub, a dagger pressed just below his neck.

She squashed down the immediate panic the flowed through her. "Leonardo what are you doing?" She asked him calmly. He still looked pale, yet overly flushed. His hands shook and his eyes, which looked into hers, were glassy.

"I am paying the price for my brother's death." He whispered.

* * *

><p><strong>Leonardo<strong> looked at the woman standing in the doorway looking at him. "I am paying the price for my brother's death." He said in answer to her question. He frowned. She looked familiar, the beautiful woman with the glorious golden brown hair. Then he remembered that she was a figment from one of his dreams. He dreamt that Raphael was still alive and had just lost his memory so he couldn't find his way home. This woman had saved Raphael in his dream. But of course, it was just a dream, because his brother was dead. And he was responsible.

"You beat your brother half to death and threw him 4 stories into a dumpster?" She asked him as she approached him slowly.

"I might as well have." He mumbled to himself. "If I hadn't fought with him, Raph wouldn't have..." His voice cracked in grief.

"Raphael is alive." She said to him softly. She had stopped walking towards him and stood perfectly still.

"I know, in my dreams Raph is still alive. I dreamt you saved him, but I know that you aren't real." He whispered.

"Then if I am not real, and if this is all a dream, then you are trying to kill yourself in a dream?" She asked him with curiosity, tipping her head to the side.

He frowned because he had thought he was awake, and somehow she was closer than she was before, even though he swore she hadn't moved.

He clutched the tantō tighter. _It felt real_. _Then was she real?_ He asked himself. He shook his head. She was too amazing to be real. She had eyes that looked at him as if she _knew_ him. Knew all of his thoughts and needs, and stared down into the darkness of his soul and accepted that darkness that resided there. She could do that because she was just someone his mind made up.

She was gripping his hand then and her hand was warm. He struggled with her then. He didn't know why but he fought her. _Why should he fight with his own imagination, his own dream? _He wondered. "I have to pay. You understand, I know you understand. I have to do this." He pleaded with her as she calmly struggled for the blade. _Was his conscience somehow trying to get him to rethink his demand for honour?_ "My honour demands I pay for my mistake." He pleaded with her.

There was a gasp of pain, and yet she still struggled against him. He pushed her away roughly, the bloody blade clattering to the floor. She slammed against the wall, bounced off and fell to the floor. She lay on the white tile unmoving as a pool of blood slowly spread from beneath her.

He stumbled over to the blade and picked it up in shaking fingers. She lay as still as death. He leaned over her. _He was dreaming. He was dreaming_. _He was dreaming_. He repeated to himself. _He was dreaming wasn't he? But if he wasn't dreaming then..._

* * *

><p><strong>Donatello<strong> heard a loud thump and frowned. He slowly made his way back upstairs wondering if Leonardo had fallen out of bed and if he had, if Katherine needed help getting him back into it.

He walked into the room where Leonardo had been laying unconscious for the last few hours and found the bed empty. He saw a pile of sheets and looked at the bathroom door which had been pushed open, the light on. He frowned at the sight of something red standing out brightly against the white of the tile.

He walked through the bathroom door and stopped in horror. There was blood everywhere. There was a bloody streak on one wall and Katherine was laying on the ground a puddle of growing blood beneath her. Leonardo was leaning over her, a tantō in his shaking hand, it's blade crimson with her blood.

"Leo, what have you done?" He choked out in horror. Leonardo looked at him. He was breathing quickly, eyes wide with fear and horror, his skin grey.

"I...I...I..." He stammered. "I killed her." He said in whispered shock. "I didn't...Donny...what have I done?" He asked in terror as he dropped the blade to the ground.

"Back away Leo." He commanded as he knelt down over Katherine. He felt for a pulse and prayed that Leonardo hadn't killed her, because if he had, he didn't think either Raphael or Leonardo would ever recover from it. He breathed a sigh of relief. She still had a pulse, but he had to determine how badly she was injured.

Leonardo had skidded back and was pressed against the wall. The damning bloody streak beside him. Donatello pulled off his shirt and attempted to staunch the flow of blood coming from a gash located on her back in her hip region.

"Hold this here Leo." He growled as he stood. Leonardo didn't move. He silently cursed. He needed to find a first aid kit. Fast. He ran from the room bumping into Michelangelo in the hallway.

"Is Leo...?" Michelangelo asked in worry.

"In the bathroom, I need help Mike!" He said as he strode away from his baby brother.

He heard his brother swear a moment later as he strode down the hallway to a linen closet. He opened it and found a first aid kit. He ran back to the bathroom and shut the door.

"Donny, is she...?" Michelangelo asked in horror as he held his bloody shirt to her hip.

"Not yet." He said as he popped open the kit.

"Leo, what is wrong with you!" Michelangelo hissed, but Leonardo hadn't moved from the wall. He was staring glassy eyed at the blade on the floor.

"Mikey, get Leo out of here, put him back in bed." He said as he pulled his blood soaked shirt away from Katherine's side.

"Donny, Raph will kill Leo." He said in a small, dread filled voice. "Like, actually kill him."

"Just take Leo to bed, if Raph asks, you don't know where Katherine is." He said as he looked into Katherine's eyes which looked back at him in pain filled resignation. He swallowed. She had to believe she was going to die, that was the only way he could account for her staring back at him so calmly.

"You're going to be okay." He whispered to her and he prayed that he wasn't lying to her.

She nodded and closed her eyes.

"Katherine listen to me. You have to stay with me okay, just listen to my voice, concentrate on my face, I need to see how badly you were stabbed." He said his voice shaking.

"Donatello..." She said softly as she opened her eyes and looked at him.

He shook his head, he didn't want to hear her last words. He didn't want to have that burden. "You're going to be fine." He said as he clutched at her hand. He had only known her for a few hours, but he had begun to actually feel a deep amount of friendship for this amazing woman who had saved his brother's life.

"Donatello..." She began again.

He looked into her eyes and let her finish. If she needed to tell him something he would listen.

"I am in a considerable amount of pain at the moment. And I'm not going to die, unless it is from blood loss." She said evenly. "So, if you don't mind, I would very much like it if you would help me up off the floor. Then we can get my hip re-stitched and figure out the damage the blade did to my hand." She said calmly.

He looked at her in shock as he helped her to sit up. "Leonardo cut my hand with the blade because we were fighting over it, but the fall must have ripped open the wound I received in the car accident. The stitches must have tore open." She said as she looked over her shoulder. He marvelled at her calmness. He quickly checked her over for signs of shock and found none. Her utter lack of emotion was beginning to unnerve him

He lifted up her shirt and surveyed the damage. She wrapped her right hand in a cloth as he attempted to stop the bleeding. Donatello closed his eyes as relief rode through him. He pulled his shirt away from the wound. All of the stitches had popped. He took a pair of scissors and carefully cut away the old stitching. "I'm sorry Leonardo attacked you." He said softly as he attempted to re-stitch the wound. He blamed himself. _He should have known not to leave her alone with his brother. He had thought she had poisoned him, of course he would attack her._

"He didn't attack me, I attacked him." She said to him. He looked at her in shock as he stopped mid-stitch. "I think he was trying to kill himself." She said softly, worry creeping into her voice and eyes.

He frowned as trepidation caught hold of him and plunged him close to panic. "He what?" He whispered in disbelief.

"He said he had to pay the price for Raphael's death." She said quietly.

She closed her eyes tightly clenching her teeth in pain. It was then he saw her control slip, for one moment all of the pain, worry and fear spilled over as she opened her eyes and looked at him, one silent tear trickling down her cheek. Then as quickly as it had appeared, all of her emotions vanished to be replaced by an icy calm. "He said his honour demanded it. He thought Raphael was dead, and that I was just a figment of his imagination." She continued softly.

Donatello closed his eyes. "He must have been delusional." He said softly. He placed a fresh bandage on her hip. He then took her hand in his. He pulled the blood soaked cloth from her hand as looked at the damage his brother's tantō did to her.

The cut was deep and ran the length of her hand. She would be in pain for a while. "Thank you, for stopping him." He said choking on his words as worry settled deep within his gut.

She shrugged.

"You risked yourself to save his life." He said to her guiltily.

"I would do it again, just as I would pull your brother from that dumpster again and again." She said her voice determined.

"You love him, don't you?" He asked her. He didn't know why the question slipped out, but it did anyway.

She frowned and tipped her head to the side in thought. "I don't know." She began. "I have never been in love, so I do not know what love is supposed to feel like, but I suppose it is possible." She finished softly.

He nodded. "Raphael is lucky." He said quietly as he contemplated the ramifications of her loving his hot headed brother. But it almost made sense. She did not seem bothered by their appearance, and as far as personalities were concerned, she was as calm as his brother was passionate.

"What the hell is going on in here!" Raphael roared as he barged into the bathroom. "And why is..." He paled as he took in the blood in the bathroom. "What happened?" He whispered in angry horror as he knelt down in front of Katherine.

"My stitches popped. Donatello was kind enough to stitch me back up." She said to him with a shrug.

Donatello's eye ridges rose in shock because she wasn't going to tell Raphael that Leonardo had hurt her.

"Damn it Katherine!" He yelled. "You should have gone to the hospital to begin with! Now..." He paused. "What happened to your hand?" He asked suspiciously.

"It was an accident." She said softly.

"You..." Raphael began but Katherine cut him off.

"I'm okay." Her focus shifted to over Raphael's shoulder. "Michelangelo, is your brother sleeping better now?" She asked his baby brother who was standing in the doorway, slightly pale, a worried look on his face, while he mouthed the words _'Sorry_'.

Raphael threw a glance over his shoulder at Michelangelo who looked at Raphael guiltily.

"He's sleeping, or unconscious." Michelangelo replied. "I'm glad you're okay Kitten." He said to her.

Donatello could hear Raphael's teeth beginning to grind together.

"Donatello, I think I am done for the night." She began as she watched him finish bandaging her hand. "Can you take me to my room, I think I want to sleep. Rogue can see to it that you guys get settled in for the night."

Donatello nodded as he went to pick her up.

"I'll take her." Raphael said as he knelt down and scooped her up into his arms. His brother was livid, but was managing to control his temper. Donatello marvelled at this.

Raphael strode from the room. He heard a door slam and he could hear Raphael begin to yell.

Michelangelo turned and walked through the bedroom to the hallway. Donatello picked himself off the floor. He frowned as he looked for Leonardo's tantō, but couldn't find it. He frowned as he followed Michelangelo into the hallway. Michelangelo danced from foot to foot as he looked at the door in worry. "Donny, should we go in there?" He asked him. They could hear Raphael perfectly, but they couldn't hear Katherine. Raphael wanted to know what had happened, but it didn't sound like she was giving him any answers. His brother's voice rose in frustrated anger.

Donatello looked at the door with worry. They knew Raphael's temper, but he wasn't sure if Raphael would actually physically hurt Katherine.

The shouting stopped and the door suddenly opened.

"You two had better tell me what happened right now!" Raphael growled as he closed the door gently behind him. "And don't try to tell me it was an accident because accidents don't usually involve knives." He said as he pulled the bloody tantō from where he had shoved it through his belt.

He could see the rage rolling around in Raphael's eyes. Raphael's eyes flicked to where Leonardo lay. "He did this didn't he." He said as he strode past them.

"Raph, wait!" Donatello shouted as he tried to stop his brother. "It's not what you think." He said desperately.

"It's exactly what I think. He tried killing her, again! And Kitten was defending him. Saying that it wasn't her story to tell and that it was really just an accident." Raphael said as he stared down at Leonardo's unconscious form. His fists clenched in white knuckled anger. The tantō still clutched in his hand. His hand lashed out grabbing Leonardo and hauling him up by the edge of his carapace. "Wake up you son of a bitch!" He said as he shook him. "I want to see your eyes when I kill you." He said shaking his brother hard again.

"Raph, put him down, please. Before you hurt him." Michelangelo pleaded desperately.

"I'm gonna do so much more than just hurt him." Raphael said maliciously.

"Katherine stopped Leo from killing himself!" Michelangelo blurted out.

Raphael's grip loosened slightly. "What?" He asked in confusion.

"Put him down Raph, and we'll explain." He said softly.

Raphael let Leonardo go. His unconsious brother slumped back onto the bed. Donatello checked Leonardo and made sure he was still okay. His brother's fever was still high, but seemed otherwise okay.

Donatello waved them out of the bedroom. They walked into the kitchen where Raphael began to pace angrily. "You two had both better stop callin' me Raph." He growled. "And you had better start talkin'. Now!" Raphael said in a deep anger filled voice.

Donatello could see that Raphael was hanging on by a thread. He quickly began to explain. "Rogue, Leo lives by a code of honour, we all do, but Leo's honour is..." He tried to find a way to explain it. "We are trained ninja's." He began softly. "Our father taught us ninjitsu and what it means to be ninjas. Leonardo lives by the ninja code of honour."

Raphael looked stunned. "Father? Ninja?" He asked.

"Master Splinter, our adopted father and ninja master, passed away two years ago." Michelangelo put in softly. His voice wavered slightly with grief.

Raphael frowned but nodded.

"You and Leo fought. You stormed off, but you always come back, this time, you didn't." Donatello said wretchedly. "We found a Purple Dragon who seen what happened to you. He saw you fall into the dumpster and he is the one who told us that you were dead because he saw your jacket and helmet go into the back of the truck and then compact." Raphael had paled slightly. "Leo blamed himself for your supposed death. He believed if you two hadn't fought that you wouldn't have died. I think Leo was having some sort of episode brought on by his high fever. He obviously believed that he should pay for your death with his own life. He believed that nothing was real. Katherine tried to stop Leo from killing himself and she was injured. I am so sorry for that." Donatello whispered.

"He sliced up her right hand, her _right_ hand. That is the hand she uses to sketch, to paint, to do everything with. Do you have any idea what he has done to her if the damage is permanent and she can never hold a pencil or paintbrush again?" Raphael yelled at him.

"I know." Donatello said closing his eyes in shameful agony.

Donatello saw some of the fight leave Raphael. His eyes were still angry, but worry was beginning to crowd the anger out. "You two sort out where you're going to sleep. I'll be on the couch." He growled as he strode from the room.

"Donny?" Michelangelo asked softly.

"What Mikey." He asked with a sigh. He was tired and exhausted. Sleep sounded like a good idea.

"Do you think that when Leo gets better, and if Raph doesn't get his memory back, or even if he does get his memory back, that maybe...he should just stay here?" Michelangelo asked quietly.

Donatello looked at Michelangelo in shock. "I mean, think about it Donny. I've never seen Raph this way. Angry and protective yes, but...I don't think I've ever seen Raph this...open. And when we saw him with Katherine outside, he looked worried, but...happy." Michelangelo took a deep breath as if whatever he was going to say next pained him. "I mean, Raph is out. Everyone thinks he's dead. He and Katherine could just, stay here and be happy. Raph would be free of the constant danger, that seems to rule our lives."

Donatello studied his brother. He was serious, and he had to admit that his idea did have merit. "But would we be able to be happy without him?" He whispered back.

"I think I could be happy, knowing that he was happy." Michelangelo said as he looked at the empty doorway.

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><p><strong>Phew that was a little intense. Thoughts and opinions are always welcome! =)<strong>


	16. Chapter 16

**A big giant thank you to D'fuentes, Outasync, Mela, Chibiwolf33 and Kaaayyytteee for your wonderful reviews and support!**

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><p><span>Chapter 16<span>

**Rogue** tried to get comfortable on the couch. He had been tempted to go crawl in with Katherine, but he knew he couldn't. Things had changed between them, even if things _actually_ hadn't changed. He had kissed her, which meant that she now knew he was attracted to her. This meant that if he crawled into bed with her, she may think he wanted more, which he did, but she was injured, and since things had stalled between them he was unsure about her feelings for him.

He angrily rolled over. His thoughts turned to what Donatello had told him. He had had a father that he didn't remember, and he was a ninja. He supposed he could think it was ridiculous, but he was a mutant turtle, he figured his life couldn't really get much weirder.

"I'm a mutant turtle, a ninja, have a suicidal brother who blames himself for my being killed, even though I ain't dead, and had an adopted father who passed away two years ago." He said as he looked at Katherine who had sat down on the chair by his head. He couldn't make out much of her in the darkness and she had been quiet, but he could smell her ever present light flowery scent.

"You don't have to feel guilty you know." She said softly.

"I don't..." He began but cut the words off. He didn't want to lie to her, even if it was about his own feelings.

"I understand." She said as she reached out and touched his cheek lightly. "You don't have to feel guilty because you don't feel anything towards your family because they are strangers to you, and you don't have to feel guilty about my being hurt. I knew the risks when I saw the knife and I took the chance that I was probably not going to come away unscathed."

He sat up holding her hand against his cheek. "Kitten, you need your hand to paint, to sketch..." He said miserably.

"I'll paint again Rogue." She said as she stood and sat down beside him. "I'll sketch again."

"You don't know that." He said turning her towards him. The moonlight illuminated her face as the moon passed from behind a cloud.

She smiled at him. "I want to, so I will. I need to, so I will."

He gently kissed her then. He wanted to crush her to him, but knew she was probably in a great deal of pain. It was just so damn hard to tell with her.

"I'm sorry." He said as he pulled away.

"Are you apologizing for kissing me, or because you feel guilty?" She asked him.

"I don't know." He said shaking his head.

Katherine studied him and nodded. She stood. "Goodnight Rogue." She said as she walked up the stairs.

"Katherine?" He asked her.

"Yes?" She answered.

"Have a good sleep." He finished lamely.

"Thank you." She said as she climbed the stairs.

Raphael turned and punched the cushion hard. _What was wrong with him? _He wondered. _Was Michelangelo right? Was he usually impulsive? If he had his memory, would he be pressed up against her in her room right now instead of trying to get comfortable on the couch?_ He shook his head. It didn't matter because at the moment, he was a coward. There were no two ways about it. If he wasn't such a coward he would be able to ask her what the hell they were doing.

"Rogue?" Katherine asked him from the stairs. He wondered if she had seen him punch the couch cushion.

"I'm fine." He growled.

"No you aren't." She said to him.

"Katherine.." He warned. He didn't want her to pry into his head anymore. She was too damn good at reading him, even in the dark, the moon having disappeared behind a cloud again.

"What are we doing?" She asked cutting him off.

"What do you mean?" He asked, his throat tightening with dread. He swallowed.

"You know what I mean. You've kissed me twice and I am not sure what to think about that."

"Don't think too much about it Kitten." He said softly because he didn't want her to reject him, didn't want her to be disgusted at the thought that he was attracted to her.

"You don't mean that, and I do think about it. I just..."

"I already apologized..." He began to grind out.

"I like kissing you." She said at the same moment.

He froze. His breath caught in his throat. _Had he just imagined what she had just said?_

He moved then because she had turned as if to leave. He caught her by the shoulders, she gave him an assessing look. "You are fast aren't you?" She asked him.

"Hopefully not in all things." He said as he kissed her again. He crushed her to him, being careful of her hip.

She pulled away. "You still never answered my question." She said to him.

He shook his head. "I don't know Kitten. I'm pretty sure I've ever gone on a date, and I don't think I've ever been in any sort of relationship of any kind." He said in frustration.

"Well, I guess that makes two of us." She said with a soft half smile. "Goodnight Rogue."

He gently pulled her arm bringing her back to him. He wrapped her gently in his arms. "But I would like to call you mine." He said softly into her hair.

"I think there is some inner feminist within me railing against being a possession, but, I think, oddly enough, that I like the sound of that." She said as she stroked his cheek gently. She pulled away again and he let her walk up the stairs.

He didn't know what had happened, but he supposed it was the step in the right direction. They were _something._ What? He didn't know. He was just glad that Katherine was braver than he was, but then, he already knew that about her.

* * *

><p><strong>Donatello<strong> held Leonardo down as he thrashed. He needed help to make sure his brother didn't hurt himself. Unfortunately for him, his older brother was stronger than he was, but Michelangelo had already gone to sleep and he hadn't wanted to leave Leonardo to try to get Michelangelo up.

"I didn't mean to." Leonardo whispered in anguish as he thrashed again.

"Leo, you're okay. It's all right." He said soothingly as he strained against Leonardo.

"He's not doing very well is he?" Katherine questioned softly.

Donatello jumped. He hadn't heard her enter the room, but then again, his concentration had been solely focused upon his brother.

Katherine sat down on the bed while he attempted to push his brother back into it. He seemed determined to get up. "Get Mikey or Raph, they can help me." He said through clenched teeth.

"He seems to be having a nightmare." She observed.

"I know!" He hissed in irritation.

"And he doesn't seem to be responding to you very well." She said as she pondered his brother.

"Katherine." He grimaced as Leonardo pulled out of his grip, nearly causing him to end up on the floor. His brother thrashed from side to side again, and then began trying to get out of the bed. His sweat-soaked brow glistened in the gentle light of the lamp. "I-I-I..." Leonardo's voiced hitched with grief. 'I killed...I killed her.I killed her." His brother repeated.

"Let me try." Katherine said.

No." He shook his head in horror as Katherine shifted closer to Leonardo kneeling on the bed. She was already badly injured, he didn't want Leonardo to hurt her any worse than she already had been.

She ignored him as she wrapped her arms gently around Leonardo's shoulders. "It's okay Leonardo." She whispered into his brother's ear. Leonardo immediately stopped trying to get out of bed.

Donatello looked at her in shock as Leonardo slumped into her.

"Tell me about this fight that Raphael had with Leonardo." She said as she gently lay Leonardo back down on the bed. She rested her uninjured hand on Leonardo's sweat drenched cheek.

"What did you do?" He asked in amazement.

She shrugged. "If he thinks he killed me, I thought that maybe having me talk to him and touch him may reassure him in some way. He's asleep, but it is possible that he is still aware. I could have been wrong though. But, I Raphael responded to my touch when he was injured. And I think Raphael and Leonardo are very much alike."

Donatello leaned back and slumped in the chair he had been dozing in until his nightmare gripped brother had woke him up. She waited patiently until he gathered his thoughts. "They fought because Raph wanted to go topside." He said quietly.

Katherine tipped her head to the side. "Topside?" She asked in question.

"We live in a sewer, so topside, outside." He explained.

"I thought there were only giant alligators in the sewers of New York?" She asked with a smile.

Donatello grinned. "Only met one giant alligator, his name is Leatherhead."

Katherine chuckled and shook her head. "Mutant turtles, a rat and an alligator."

His eye ridges rose in surprise. "I talked a little with Michelangelo." She explained softly. "So Leonardo would not let Raphael go topside because...?" She questioned.

"Because for us it is dangerous. Because of what and who we are, we have enemies who wish us dead, or captured and used as test subjects." He told her quietly.

She digested this and nodded.

"But, Leonardo and Raphael are very different." He said with a shake of his head in response to her earlier observation of his brothers. "That is why they fight so much."

Katherine chuckled. "I think it is because they are so similar that they fight so much. I know Raphael, but I have only met Leonardo a few times under rather unfortunate circumstances, but I can see the similarities in personality. They may have different tastes and interests I suppose, I'm not really sure on that, I don't know either of them well enough to judge on that, but they both have a lot in common." She began ticking points off on her good hand which she had lifted from Leonardo's flushed, sweat streaked cheek. "They both have tempers, are extremely protective, stubborn, think they know what's best for everyone except themselves, and are both incredibly decisive." She said with a glance at Leonardo. "Get two personalities like that in one room and one of them will have to take the back seat, and I am guessing that role is Raphael's, which would be stifling. But I would imagine the death of your father has strained things to the breaking point with them." She said as she ran a soft hand over Leonardo's cheek. He had begun to softly moan and toss. He calmed at her touch.

Donatello thought over her words and nodded, acknowledging that she was correct about his brothers. He had always just thought about his brother's personalities as what they enjoyed and always thought of Leonardo and Raphael as opposites. Leonardo had a temper, but he was very controlled, unlike Raphael who let his temper get the better of him. Their tastes in music, food, and movies were also completely different.

"You had better get some sleep Donatello." She said to him.

"You should as well. You need your rest." He replied.

She nodded. She curled up next to Leonardo. He looked at her in surprise. She yawned. "He needs to know I'm okay." She said in explanation.

Donatello nodded slowly. Leonardo did respond to her presence and even her touch, but he wasn't sure Raphael would be pleased if he found out that Katherine had curled up with Leonardo.

Donatello shrugged. He was too tired to care. He got out of the chair and curled up on the couch falling into a deep exhausted sleep.

* * *

><p><strong>Leonardo<strong> could sense warmth, his body automatically seeking out the source of heat and wrapping himself around it. He could smell flowers and something else a dark, woodsy, musk smell. Leonardo opened his eyes. He knew he had been sleeping and there was something warm wrapped in his arms. He looked at golden waves and the soft line of a cheekbone. Soft pink lips, black lashes, dark against pale skin. He remembered she was the woman from his dreams, only...He had thought for some reason that he had hurt her. "I'm fine Leonardo, go back to sleep." She said opening her eyes slightly.

He closed his eyes and relaxed into sleep.

Leonardo woke up. He sat up slowly and looked around him. He wasn't sure where he was. He looked to be in a room decorated in dark woods, mixed with fabrics of beige, red, and blue. Donatello slowly approached him. "Hey Leo, how are you feeling?" He asked gently. Donatello felt his forehead.

"What happened?" He asked in confusion. "Where are we?" He asked looking at the light streaming though filmy beige and blue striped curtains.

"You've been sick Leo, really sick. You're still a little warm, but your fever seems to be running its course. You had us worried." His brother said with relief.

"This doesn't look like Casey's grandmother's. Donny where are we?" He asked again.

"You collapsed just after we arrived at Katherine's." Donatello said softly.

He frowned. "Katherine?" He questioned. It was then memory flooded back to him. His accusation of poisoning.

"She didn't poison you Leo, you were sick before you even came here. Katherine thinks your body was over stressed and you basically made yourself ill. And personally I would have to agree with her."

"Raph is really alive?" He questioned because for some reason he had believed that Raphael being alive had been just a dream.

"Yes Leo, Raph is alive and well. He can't remember anything, but he's alive." Donatello said gently.

An image flashed in his mind. There was blood everywhere, Katherine lying in a pool of her own blood. He looked down at his hands. There were dried flecks and smears of blood still on his fingers and palms. "Katherine isn't the enemy?" He questioned as a feeling of dread flowed through him.

"No." Donatello stated firmly.

"Donny, what did I do?" He questioned in horror as bile rose up in his throat. His brother used a cloth and gently began removing the flecks of dried blood.

"Leo breathe, just breathe." Donatello said in worry. He began to control his breathing which had become erratic.

"She's injured, but you didn't kill her." Donatello said as he put a gentle, yet firm hand on his bare shoulder.

"What did I do to her? She was laying in a pool of her own blood Donny!" His voice rising in panic.

"Calm down Leo. You didn't attack her, but you two struggled over your tantō. Thankfully she won, but her hand was pretty badly cut. I think you threw her against the wall and she fell to the ground which popped the stitches she had gotten when she was in a car accident."

Leonardo looked at Donatello as guilt and horror rose up to choke him.

"You nearly killed yourself Leo." Donatello said voice cracking slightly. "Purposefully."

He nodded because he remembered. It was a little fuzzy, but he remembered staring at the tantō and thinking that he needed to pay for his brother's death.

"How long have you been thinking about killing yourself Leo?" Donatello questioned softly.

Leonardo blew out a breath. "I'm not suicidal Donny. I mean, I've thought about it, but I'd never actually kill myself. Raph would hate me if I did. I could never ask his forgiveness for what I did to him if I didn't live my life to the fullest every day." He closed his eyes in relief. "But Raph is alive." Donatello nodded his head. "Can I see him?" He asked.

"Raph's still sleeping. He's across the hall. He moved from the couch in the morning after Katherine poked him and told him to go upstairs. But Raph doesn't trust you Leo. He doesn't trust any of us, and he is really angry with you at the moment for hurting Kit...Katherine,"

He nodded slowly. "I need to speak to Katherine. I need to apologize. I need to do so much more than just apologize." He said with a shake of his head. He frowned. The scent of flowers that he associated with Katherine was heavy in the air, almost as if her scent was on his skin. His eyes widened as he remembered her laying in his arms. He shook his head. He had obviously dreamt it.

"I can't let you get out of bed Leo. And Katherine's outside somewhere." Donatello said firmly.

"What do you mean she's outside?" He asked in shock.

"I tried to tell her to take it easy and to rest, but she wouldn't listen. She said she needed to think. I also think that is why she made Raph go to bed upstairs, so he couldn't stop her from going outside."

Leonardo swung his legs over the side of the bed, and stood.

"Leo." Donatello warned.

"Donny where are my clothes?" He asked as he looked down at himself. He was in nothing but his boxers. He spotted his clothes neatly folded on a table that was filled with paints, brushes, and other various art supplies. An easel was shoved in the corner with a paint splattered drop cloth bunched up underneath.

He walked over to his clothes and began dressing. He wavered slightly on his feet. "I'll come right back Donny, I promise." He said as his brother reached out to help him stand straight. He waved his concerned brother away and finished getting dressed.

He strode downstairs, passing Michelangelo on the way.

"Hey Leo, you're better!" He said in surprise. "You feel like breakfast? Kitten helped me make up a batch of the best pancakes I have ever tasted!"

Leonardo frowned. "Kitten?" He questioned and then remembered that that was what Raphael had always called Katherine.

Michelangelo smiled. "Called her that just to see Raph's face." He chuckled. "But I like the nickname. It suits her." He said with a shrug.

"I'll eat later Mikey, I need to talk to Katherine." He said to his brother. "Do you know where she went?"

Michelangelo nodded. "She's sitting under the big tree out there by the fire pit." He said. His brother frowned in concern. "You know that she isn't our enemy right Leo?" He questioned. "You hurt her pretty bad last night when you.." Michelangelo paused growing pale." I'm surprised she's up and walking around."

Leonardo hung his head in shame. "Yeah Mikey, I know."

"I knew you blamed yourself for Raph's death, but I never thought you'd..." Michelangelo's voice hitched to a stop at the last word.

"I'm not, and I wasn't suicidal Mikey, I was just really sick and not thinking straight." He said to his worried brother. "But I need to talk with Katherine."

Michelangelo looked at him with worry in his eyes and nodded.

He walked out the back door. He had spotted a slim shoulder in a light pink t-shirt half hidden by the trunk of a tree.

He cautiously approached her. He wasn't sure of the reaction he would get from her. She had every right to fear and mistrust him, but she had opened her house up to him and his brothers, saved his brother's life, and saved his own. He owed her a debt that he knew he could never repay.

He studied her. She looked as if she were sleeping, leaning against the tree, eyes closed. There was a sketchpad in her lap turned to a blank page. A pencil had been tucked behind her ear. He could see the bandage wrapped around her right hand and the one at her throat. Guilt flowed through him.

He knelt down and studied her. She was as beautiful as he remembered her being. Her hair was bound up in a braid that fell over one shoulder. "Hello Leonardo." She said softly, eyes still closed. She opened one eye and looked at him tilting her head to the side. She opened her other eye and slowly stood. He wasn't sure if she would allow him to help her stand, but she didn't flinch as he reached out to help her.

"What are you doing out here Leonardo?" She questioned him.

He fell to his knees in front of her. He bowed his head down. "I'm sorry." He said to her. "Please forgive me." He said, his voice nearly breaking with guilt.

Katherine frowned and looked over her shoulder. He stood quickly and grabbed Katherine around the waist pulling her into the protection of his arms. He turned blocking the attack with his shell. Wood shattered against his carapace.

"Leo, we're gettin you outta here bro!" Casey's voice shouted from behind him.

"Casey what do you think you are doing?" He shouted as he backed away with Katherine securely in his arms. She was warm, soft, and her flowery scent drifted around him.

"I already told you bro, we are gettin you outta here, away from her. Now let her go cause I don't want to fight you." He said to him, April emerging from the brush behind Casey.

"Donny's cell signal is coming from the house." April said to Casey.

Casey nodded. "We'll get them all out April." He growled with determination.

Katherine let out a sigh. "I feel like the heroine in a really bad pulp novel." She grumbled. "Except everyone thinks I'm the villain."

"Casey put down the bat." Leonardo said backing away with Katherine slowly.

"She isn't our enemy."

"Sure she isn't Leo." He said advancing towards them slowly.

"You guys said you would be back, and you never showed up!" April accused. "And now you are protecting her! You were bowing down to her Leo. You have never bowed down to anyone but Master Splinter. Now fight whatever control she has over you!"

"April, I just got really sick, I'm still a little sick, Donny must have forgotten to call." That sounded lame, even to him.

"We know you're sick Leo, that's why we gotta get you home and we can try to fix whatever she did to you." Casey charged then, bat lifted above his head. "Sorry Leo!" He said as the bat swung down on them.

"Casey, Stop!" Michelangelo warned, his nunchuck catching the bat's blow.

"She's got Mikey too!" Casey said throwing a worried glance at April.

"You okay Leo, Kitten?" Michelangelo threw over his shoulder.

"I'm fine." Katherine mumbled.

"That's enough!" Donatello said angrily and he walked out of the house and advanced towards them. "April, I'm sorry I didn't call, but Leo had a fever, still has a fever. Kitten...Katherine is injured and..."

"What's goin' on?" Raphael's voice drifted from behind them. It was low, soft and dangerous.

Leonardo looked at his furious brother. His sais were clenched in white knuckled fists, his rage filled eyes roving over the frozen tableau. "Let go of my girl Leo." Raphael growled.

Leonardo's eyes widened in shock, his arms unconsciously tightening around Katherine's body, bringing her closer to him.

"Just an observation, I kinda feel like I am in a hostage situation here, only we are all on the same side. So give me a shout when you figure this all out, I'm kinda done." She said as she ducked out of his grasp. "I've got things I've got to do. Hi April, Casey nice to meet you. April if you wouldn't mind could you pass me my sketchbook, it's by your foot."

April looked down at her feet and picked up the sketchbook. She flipped through the first few pages. "You really are an artist. And you were really using those skulls for your artwork." She said in surprise.

Katherine held out her hand as Raphael folded her protectively in his arms. April slowly gave her the sketchbook.

"So, she's not a bad guy?" Casey asked in confusion.

"No, she's not the bad guy." Raphael growled as he looked Katherine over, checking for injuries. Her stitches were bleeding a bit, but seemed to still be holding together. "That's it, I ain't lettin you outta my sight anymore." Raphael growled. "Are you normally this accident prone?" He asked as he tipped her chin up looking at her.

"Probably." She said with a slight smile.

Leonardo felt like an intruder then. Raphael was looking at Katherine with a tenderness that he didn't think his brother was capable of. Raphael leaned down and kissed Katherine. Leonardo looked away because seeing his brother kiss Katherine bothered him for some reason.

Raphael pulled away, Katherine was blushing slightly. "Come on Kitten, let's leave all the lunatics out here, I'm hungry."

Katherine chuckled. "And cranky, don't forget cranky."

Raphael glared down at her as they vanished into the house.

Leonardo felt his vision waver slightly.

Donatello picked him up off the ground, Michelangelo helping. "Let's get you back to bed Leo." Donatello said softly.

"Donny are you sure everything is okay?" April asked in worry.

"Come inside April, Casey. Mikey made pancakes." Donatello said under the strain of his weight.

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><p><strong>Well Leo's got his head on straight <em>FINALLY<em>! LOL. Hope everyone enjoyed the chapter!**


	17. Chapter 17

**This is a bit of a long chapter, hope everyone enjoys!**

**A big shout out and Thanks to Chibiwolf33, Outasync, D'fuentes, Rocky181 and Kaaayyytteee! Thank you, thank you so much for your support!**

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><p><span>Chapter 17<span>

**Leonardo** looked around the kitchen. Katherine was standing just inside the door. Raphael was shoving pancakes into his mouth. He caught Raphael's eye and his brother imediately scowled at him.

Leonardo turned his head away. He could see more pancakes cooking on the stove. His stomach growled.

Katherine looked at him and walked over to the pancakes that were cooking. She began flipping them left handed.

"I'll be right back to help you Kitten." Michelangelo said with a smile as his brothers helped him back up to bed.

Donatello fussed over him for a few minutes before finally leaving him alone. He rolled over onto his side closing his eyes. He vaguely remembered holding something warm while he had been sleeping. The presence had been warm and comforting. His sheets smelled of Katherine. Not that he was surprised since it was probably Katherine's bed, but the sheets seemed fresh. The image of Katherine wrapped in his arms flashed through his mind.

He opened his eyes as he felt someone enter the room. "I should just open a bed and breakfast for mutant turtles." Katherine said with a shake of her head and a lopsided smile. "And their friends. This place is getting full."

"I'm sorry." He said as he slowly sat up.

She had a tray in her hands and he could smell the pancakes. She just shrugged. Setting the tray over his knees. "I suppose it is nice to know that you have friends who would risk their lives to save you." She said to him.

"Yeah." He said softly. "How are your injuries?" He asked as he stared at the three pancakes drizzled with syrup and butter. There was a tall glass of orange juice on the side as well as her sketch book.

"Fine." She said to him and he had the feeling the subject of her injuries was closed. "You had better get something into you. I know you are hungry and you need fluids."

Leonardo smiled slightly. "You sound like Donny."

Katherine chuckled. "He has been badgering me as well. He is very much the mother hen, isn't he?"

Leonardo smiled. He never thought about Donatello that way, but he supposed, if they were injured, he was very focused on making sure they were getting treated and on the road to recovery, whether you wanted to be or not. "He can be."

Katherine moved the chair the was sitting beside his bed. She moved it to the center of the room. She grabbed the sketchbook from his tray and sprawled into the chair wincing slightly. She looked over at him. "I hope you don't mind, but you are in the room I normally paint in, and I have to figure out the composition of two paintings." She began flipping through a few pages a pencil griped between her teeth, another one behind her ear. She frowned at the paper and looked at him speculatively

He swallowed. He felt as if she was ripping away all of his barriers and looking into the very depths of his soul. She finally shifted her gaze away, pulling the pencil from her mouth. She winced in pain dropping the pencil with a hiss. She sighed staring at her hand. "This is going to get annoying." She grumbled.

Leonardo swallowed and lost his appetite.

"You're breakfast is going to get cold. And this is my fault for grabbing the knife." She said pulling the other pencil from behind her ear. She clutched at the pencil slightly differently and began sketching. Her hand moved furiously over the page.

He looked at the pancakes. He began cutting them into pieces. He took a bite. He looked down at his empty plate in shock. He didn't even remember eating the whole plate, but they really were that good.

"Well you look a little better now that you have some food in you." She said with a warm smile that made his stomach do some sort of flip flop.

"You saved my life, You saved my brother's life. I can't even begin to thank you or repay you." He said to her.

"Don't move." She said as he froze. She tipped her head to the side and studied him, she looked at her sketch pad flipping to the next page. She began furiously sketching again. She suddenly stood and walked over to the easel. "You can move again." She said as she pulled it out of the corner the drop cloth going with it. Brushes were produced, paint was suddenly squirted onto a thin wooden board. There was a paintbrush clenched in her teeth, one behind her ear, two in her left hand and one in her right. She hit a button and she scrolled through an ipod. "I hope you don't feel like sleeping, and if you do, I apologize." She said as she began filling the blank canvas with a dark grey colour that was followed by orange and brown.

"No, I'm not really tired." He said softly. He felt as if he were imposing. He wasn't really sure how he had ended up in her bedroom instead of a different bedroom, but he felt as if he really couldn't object if he was in _her_ workspace. The music wasn't very loud, but it was strong music, flourishing orchestral performances mixed in with hard rock and rap.

He watched her for a few minutes. "I'm glad that you found Raphael." He said softly. "Not just because you saved his life, but. I'm glad that he is...happy." He said because he meant it, even though for some reason the thought of his brother with her bothered him, but he wasn't sure why.

She didn't reply.

"I was hoping that perhaps you and I could begin fresh. I have behaved towards you in a reprehensible manner, but I truly believed that my brother was in danger." He defended. When she didn't reply he continued. "I know this does not excuse my actions, but I would hope that maybe they would be understandable, and perhaps one day you could forgive me for the injuries I caused you both intentionally and unintentionally."

"Well ain't that sweet." Raphael's mocking voice came from the doorway.

He turned towards the door in shock. He felt his cheeks burn with shame and embarrassment.

"Hello Ra...Rogue." He said to cover up his embarrassment. His brother had been leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed over his chest. He pushed himself away from the doorframe and walked into the room.

"You're waistin' your breath." Raphael said to him.

He looked at Katherine and nodded closing his eyes as an almost physical pain assaulted him.

"I didn't mean that she won't forgive you, I mean that she can't hear you." He pointed out.

He looked at her in surprise. He would never have known she was deaf. He expressed this thought out loud.

"She ain't deaf, she's just deaf right now. Aren't you Kitten?" Raphael said to her back. Katherine didn't reply. Leonardo frowned at Katherine's back in confusion. "She's in her 'Zone'." Raphael said with a shrug as he plopped himself down in the chair Katherine had vacated a few minutes earlier.

"I don't understand." He said in confusion.

"She gets so focused on what she is doing she tunes out the rest of the world. Of course just because she can't hear doesn't mean she ain't aware. So she knows you're still here, and she knows I'm in here, but near as I can figure, her mind is filin' all that info under 'not important'. Your brothers and your friends walk in here, she'll snap out of it." His brother picked up the sketchpad that lay discarded on the floor. "That or if I mess with her music, that seems to work too. Doesn't matter that she doesn't seem to be able to actually hear it. You mess with it, she hears it." He said with a shake of his head. "You can tell what mood she's in or what she's painting by what she's listening to. I could tell she was doing a background because she likes to rush through those. She doesn't like doing backgrounds. When she actually starts painting her subjects, her music choices are completely random. They jump all over the place. When she adds detail, her music is usually soft, ballady stuff."

Leonardo marvelled at the amount of concentration that Katherine would have to have to completely ignore all of her surroundings. He could almost compare what she did to meditating. It was different, but required an immense amount of focus.

He also marvelled at the fact that Raphael cared enough to actually know that about her. He actually cared enough to understand her.

"That is amazing." He said softly.

"Amazin sure, annoying as hell sometimes, definitely. Especially when I didn't realize that she had zoned out at first. I had entire conversations with myself." Raphael flipped through the sketches and then paled.

Leonardo didn't like the look of shock on his brother's face. "What's wrong?" He asked hesitantly. He knew his brother tended to not be very forthcoming when it came to sharing anything that related to anything that was bothering him. And now that he was a literal stranger, he had no doubt that getting his brother to open up would be even harder. Getting his brother to even trust him seemed like a monumental task that he didn't know could be accomplished. He had understood that Raphael did not think of him as his brother, or Casey and April as his friends. Raphael had made that clear when he had said '_your _brothers and _your_ friends', not his.

Raphael shook his head and threw the sketchbook at him. He looked down at the thrown pad of paper. He frowned not understanding what he was looking at. He turned the pad around so that it was the right way. He gasped in shock as his mind understood what he was looking at.

It was the alley where Raphael had been found by Katherine. The dumpster was in the air being tipped into the truck, debris rolling out into the top of the truck. Vague colours had been added here and there giving the alley a sinister air. He stared at the contents of the dumpster a sick feeling sliding around in his gut. All he could see of his brother was a vague arm-like shape. Possibly the sleeve of Raphael's jacket, and he _knew_ what he was looking for. If he hadn't known what he was looking for, he never would have spotted the arm in the debris.

"Kitten has one of those memories where it's like she takes a picture in her head. That is exactly what she saw. Now you wanna explain to me how the hell she knew that was me?" He said shaking his head.

Leonardo shook his head in shock, a lump forming in his throat. Had anyone else seen what was in the dumpster, they would never have thought there was someone in it.

Raphael walked behind Katherine and pulled her into him. She didn't flinch or jump, so she was aware that Raphael was in the room.

She looked at him and smiled as he held her tightly. "Thank you Kitten." He said into her ear softly.

"You're going to get paint all over, and I have no idea what you are thanking me for."

"Because you are you." Raphael said softly. Katherine chuckled.

"Thank you, now go away." She said with a smile taking away any of the sting her words may have had.

"That reminds me of why I came in her. What the hell is with you letting Michelangelo braid your hair?" He growled.

"Well you were sleeping and I couldn't do it myself. Stop getting jealous, you're lucky. I asked him to just lop it all off. He seemed to have the same horrified reaction about my hair being cut off that you did, so he brushed and braided my hair." She paused in thought. "I should just cut it off though. I can't wash this one handed."

Raphael grinned. "I could help you wash your hair Kitten." He said his voice lowering suggestively.

She laughed. "Uh huh, I'm sure you would." She said pushing him away.

Raphael was grinning but lost his grin when his gaze fell on him. Raphael frowned. "When are you leaving again?" He growled.

Leonardo flushed.

"Ow, Kitten that hurt." He said rubbing his arm where Katherine had punched him.

"Go bug someone else, and leave your brother alone." She said sternly, but with a smile in her eyes.

"Kitten." He growled.

"Oh and take the tray down while you're at it." She said as she turned away from Raphael.

"You owe me Kitten." He growled.

She smiled but didn't turn her focus from what she was doing.

Raphael gave him a glare as he stomped out of the room, tray in hand.

"You can stay as long as you'd like." Katherine said with a shrug. "Raphael means what he says, he wants you to leave. However it would be better if you stayed. He needs to remember who he is, and if anything can trigger that, it will be all of you." She said over her shoulder.

Leonardo shook his head. "We'll leave this afternoon." He replied softly.

"Tell me about your fight with Raphael." Katherine said to him completely ignoring what he had said. She turned and looked at him, face serious. "I've been thinking. I know Raphael has lost his memory, but I also believe that there is a large part of Raphael that does not want to remember who he is. Now why wouldn't he want to remember who he is?" She asked him speculatively. Leonardo looked at her as guilt assaulted him.

"It isn't healthy to shoulder so much guilt you know." She observed.

"Then who else is going to bear it?" He asked angrily. "It was my fault that Raph stormed out, it was my fault that he was nearly killed. It was my fault that I attacked you, twice! Who else should bear that!" He yelled at her in frustration as he stood angrily.

"Sit down." She said in a commanding voice laced with steel that brooked no opposition. Surprised, he sat on the edge of the bed.

Katherine crossed her arms over her chest as he stared at her in shock. She puffed out an irritated breath. "Yes you attacked me twice, but why should you blame yourself? I don't blame you for your actions, and so if I assign you no blame, you cannot blame yourself. So that guilt is now off your shoulders. As for Raphael explain to me what happened."

He studied Katherine. She was beautiful, something he already knew, but there was a keen intelligence as well as an underlying cord of strength that seemed at odds with her generally kind, easygoing nature

"I can't just..." He began. He couldn't forget what he had done to her.

She sighed. "I forgive you." She said to him.

He paused. She looked at him sincerely. "I forgive you Leonardo." She said again. The guilt he felt evaporated under her forgiveness. "There we go. Now, what happened between you and Raphael?" She asked as she sat down in her chair.

He swallowed. His mouth oddly dry. She frowned. "Donatello said that you two fought because Raphael wished to go outside. But that was the abridged version, so what else happened?"

He didn't know how to answer. He didn't want to give Katherine a bad impression of Raphael. And yet at the same time, he knew it was better if she understood who Raphael was. "We fought verbally at first. Raphael was so angry with me. I refused to get out of his way, so we ended up fighting physically. He managed to land a blow to my jaw. I hit the wall behind me hard and fell to the ground. I was dazed, Raphael should have stopped there, but he was so consumed by his rage that he attacked me while I was defenceless. His sai caught my throat, the wound was not deep, a scratch really, but Raphael was horrified at what he had done. It was then that I said some horrible things. I told him that I didn't care what he did anymore, that I was done with him. That if he wanted to leave so badly, he could leave, and that I didn't care if he lived or died."

Katherine seemed to process this. "So you kicked him out." Katherine said as she nodded to herself.

He looked at her horrified. "Of course not! I would never kick Raph out of our home."

Katherine shrugged. "If I were him, and after what I had done, I would think your words would mean 'don't ever come back'." She told him bluntly.

Leonardo shook his head. "I didn't mean...It isn't what I meant." He choked out.

Katherine shrugged. "Raphael has a temper, I get that. I've seen it, but I've never felt physically threatened by him. But I believe you and your brothers have a different sort of relationship. I suspect that you train against each other, spar against each other, and generally try to beat the crap out of each other all the time. But Raphael went too far." She paused in thought. "So, what if you supposedly kicking him out, coupled with his own guilt over what he had done, is suppressing his memory, because not remembering is better than remembering?" She asked him.

Leonardo shook his head. Guilt weighing too heavily on his heart. "You should talk to Donny, not me." He said softly.

"Leonardo, dealing with Raphael can't be easy, especially when you both have similar personalities. The responsibility of your brother's actions are not yours to bear. It is Raphael's fault, period. He needs to be held accountable for his own actions and choices. If these choices nearly got him killed, it is _his _fault, not yours."

His eyes widened in disbelief at her words. "But if I hadn't..." He began, but she cut him off.

"Yes you fought. Yes words were exchanged that were said in anger, but he still chose to leave instead of staying and handling the situation differently."

"But when Raph is in one of his rages..." He said with a shake of his head.

"He apparently acts like a child throwing a temper tantrum. He needs to grow up and handle things differently. Not your fault, not your problem. You can't force Raphael to change, he has to change himself." She said bluntly.

He opened his mouth to reply but he had nothing to say. He was also confused. He didn't understand how she wasn't defending Raphael's actions. He must have spoken this thought out loud because she laughed and shook her head. "Why would I defend him?" She asked curiously.

"Because you're his girlfriend." He accused. He finally said the word out loud. It sounded stranger on his lips than it had in his head. It was ridiculous thinking about his brother being in a relationship with a human. They were from different worlds. And yet, a longing blossomed within him for something, or rather, for someone to be with, to be his companion in everything. But Katherine belonged to Raphael, and this thought made him angry and irritated.

Katherine blushed but didn't respond to his observation, instead she said, "He was obviously in the wrong, so there is nothing to defend. Though I suspect you could have handled the situation differently as well." She pointed out. He hung his head and nodded. "See, fault equally divided." She pointed out reasonably.

"It doesn't work that way." He said.

Katherine's eyes narrowed. "You aren't his father, and even if you were, every parent knows that eventually you must let your children make their own mistakes."

Leonardo nodded at the wisdom of her words. They almost sounded like the words Master Splinter had said to him before he had passed away. He had told him that 'They each must follow their own paths, no matter where they may lead.' He had never understood what his father had meant, but he supposed now that they were adults, had been adults for many years, they could not expect to always follow the same road, but perhaps their destination would always be the same.

"Speaking of kids, how long have Casey and April been married?" She asked him, changing the subject.

"About 5 years now." He said as he took a drink of the orange juice he had managed to save from Raphael before he swiped his tray away.

Katherine nodded. "So when is the baby due?" She asked.

He began choking as the orange juice went down the wrong way. Katherine stood up and hit him on his carapace a few times before he was able to breathe again.

She shook her head chuckling to herself. "I am suffering from extreme de'ja vu' here."

"What?" He asked when he could talk again.

"Your friend April, she's totally preggers. You mean you didn't know?" She asked in shock.

Leonardo shook his head dumbly.

Katherine nodded. "Probably didn't want to tell anyone till she started to show." Katherine said with a shrug.

"But how do you even know?" He asked. He knew April, had known April for 11 years, and _he_ hadn't noticed.

"Well a couple things." Katherine said walking back to her paints as she began to clean up. "She looked a little green when we mentioned breakfast, so she could be sick, but I would guess morning sickness because she occasionally puts her hand on her belly. She isn't doing it consciously, but rather unconsciously. She did it when Casey was attacking us. Like she had to remind herself to be careful and not to get hurt because she had more than herself to protect."

His mouth dropped open in shock. He had been too busy trying to talk Casey out of trying to hurt Katherine and himself to pay much attention to anything else. But Katherine was paying attention enough to notice small detail like that. But then, she had seemed to be unusually observant.

Katherine walked into the bathroom to wash up.

He heard the shower start up and he looked at the door wondering how she was going to wash her hair. He shook his head because it wasn't any of his business, except that he was the one who had injured her in the first place.

He looked at the sketchpad that had gotten buried under his covers. He began flipping through it. He frowned when he didn't see the sketch of the alley. He flipped to the back of the sketchbook. There were various sketches of his brother that pulled at his heart and made his stomach roll. He could clearly see what injuries his brother had suffered, and the look of devastation and loss on his brother's face nearly undid him. But as the sketches progressed so too did his brother's attitude and disposition. His brother was obviously treated well and Katherine had helped him get through not only his physical injuries, but also helped him deal with his memory loss.

His brother was also very much in love with Katherine. He could see his brother's naked need captured and rendered in precise detail by Katherine's pencil. He had never seen Raphael vulnerable. Ever. Raphael didn't do vulnerable, or emotional that well. Anger sure, but every other emotion was hidden behind smart-alec comments or sarcasm. It was strange seeing Raphael without his ever constant shield of anger and mockery.

He gasped as he flipped the page. It was a sketch of himself. Anger, fear and desperation had been captured by her pencil. He was looking down at someone while the angle of his head was taken from the point of view of someone who was looking slightly up.

He knew then that this is what she had seen when he had held his katana to her throat.

He flipped the page, afraid of what he would see. It was another portrait of his face, this one he knew had been done only a few minutes ago. It was no wonder it felt as if she was ripping him open and dragging out every shameful, hidden need and desire within his soul.

His head was hung slightly in shame, but he was looking at Katherine. Rolling around in his eyes were various emotions, shame, guilt, uncertainty and lastly need. Need for forgiveness, but also a need for something else. He stared at himself trying to figure out the emotion. He paled flipping a few pages back and looking at Raphael's need filled face. He flipped back to his picture. He had the beginnings of the same look. His was not as pronounced, but it was there.

The phone rang beside him. He jumped, dropping the sketchpad to the floor. He grabbed at the phone without thinking, hitting the talk button. He looked at the phone in horror as he realized he had answered Katherine's phone.

"Hello?" A woman's voice questioned on speaker phone.

"H-Hello?" He answered back.

"I was looking for Katherine."

"Um..." He said as he looked at the bathroom door. Katherine opened it and strode out dripping wet with a towel haphazardly wrapped around her.

"Hey Mom. Sorry, I was in the shower." She said grabbing the phone from his hand. She glared at it and sat down on the edge of the bed.

"I'm sorry dear I didn't realize you were in the shower. What time is it? Oh nevermind." Her mother said. "I'm sorry for interupting you sexual rendevous."

"Sexual rendevous?" Katherine asked in confusion. And then went beat red. She tried to protest, but her mother talked over her. "He didn't sound like that angry young man from before, is this one new?" She asked.

"What? No, it isn't Raphael. It's his brother, Leonardo." She said with a shake of her head, a blush riding up her cheeks as she looked at him.

Leonardo's cheeks already felt red. Katherine's mother's comments aside, Katherine's towel was slipping down and he didn't know how to politely tell her.

"So you were having sex with Raphael's brother in the shower, does Raphael know?" Her mom asked confused.

Katherine blushed redder. "What! No of course not!" She said horrified.

"Well dear, it is always better to let them know you are dating both of them, it reduces problems later." Her mother pointed out.

"What?" Katherien said into the phone.

"Well I'm just saying, brothers are so competitive, if Raphael finds out that you are having sex with Leonardo, I would imagine things would get a little messy, possibly violent. Better to let him know that you are interested in his brother as well. Put it all out on the table. It's okay to date brothers you know. Better to find out which one you like better." Her mother pointed out.

"What?"

"You're sounding like a broken record dear. It's good to have experience in the dating world, it lets you know what you are looking for and what you aren't. Now back to you dating these brothers."

"Mom!" Katherine said desperately.

"It's nothing to be embarrassed about. Why, I remember when I was young, I dated twins. I just couldn't choose between them. I loved them both. We had some good times. Now dear, don't be embarrassed about having sex with both of them. You know I would never judge, it is perfectly natural to want to try them both out. I like to think of it like taking a car for a test drive."

Katherine looked at the phone in horror. She was holding it as far away from her as possible, looking at it like it had morphed into some hideous beast. He was looking at the phone in embarrassment and horror as well.

"Mom!" She said in a strangled voice.

"Of course, you could have then both at the same time. That is always a good option. Not very romantic you understand, but sometimes it is more about having a good time, exploring each other's bodies and new positions." Her mother continued as if Katherine hadn't even spoken.

"Mom!" She said urgently trying to get her mother to break off her stream of thought.

"So tell me, these men you are dating, what are they like, are they nice? They had better be treating you well." Her mother admonished.

Katherine's shoulders had slumped in defeat, causing good portion of the towel to slump as well. One breast lay partially exposed, the towel spreading open to expose a large amount of leg and thigh.

"Yes mom." She said in resignation. "They are both very nice."

"Well that's good, I'm glad you are enjoying yourself and taking time out of your busy schedule to have some fun. And don't forget to practice safe sex. Say hello to your boyfriends for me, love you lots, bye!"

The phone went dead. Katherine was staring at the phone. "I really have got to stop answering the phone when she calls." Katherine mumbled to herself as she unconsciously readjusted her towel. "Sorry about that, my mom is a little overzealous and easily excited. It was easier to let her believe that Raphael was my boyfriend than convince her he wasn't. Sometimes it is just easier to let her believe what she wants than try to convince her she misunderstood. Anyway, I hope she didn't make you too uncomfortable, Raphael broke the phone so it is stuck on permanent speaker." Katherine said glaring at the phone.

"I thought you were Raphael's girlfriend?" He asked in confusion. A small feeling of hope rising in him for reasons he didn't understand.

"Well, I'm honestly not sure what we are." She said softly staring at the phone. She looked at him and smiled. "I need to get dressed, and you should probably get some sleep, you are looking a little flushed." She said with concern. She reached out and touched his cheek lightly. Her hand then moved to his forehead. She pulled her hand away and stood, padding back to the bathroom and gently closing the door behind her.

He stared at the door in confusion. Katherine's mother's conversation had rattled him. He knew it was ridiculous for her mother to think she was dating both himself and Raphael, Raphael would never stand for it, and neither would he. But he was more confused about the feelings Katherine seemed to stir within him. He could admit to himself that he found her attractive, but he had barely even had a conversation with her. He didn't even know her. He looked at where her sketchbook had fallen. He picked it up and turned it to the page where she had managed to capture his look of need. He stared at it for a few minutes. Though he supposed she already knew him too well, he just really didn't know her.

But he knew the reality of their situation. Raphael would never meet Katherine's mother, because he wasn't human. Raphael would always be this vague ghost who could never be a part of her outside world. He knew he should probably do something, stop whatever relationship they had from going any further, before either of them ended up getting hurt. And yet at the same time, he wanted to believe that maybe there would be someone they all could spend their lives with, and be happy with. Though he knew it was just a dream a fantasy. Besides not being human, their lives were too dangerous. To even think about dragging an innocent into thier violence filled lives made him shudder in dread. If a lover was ever harmed or worse, killed because of them, he didn't think he could live with that burden of guilt.

Leonardo put the sketchbook beside him on the nightstand, and lay down. He closed his eyes.

He was tired and felt unbalanced. He tried to tell himself that it didn't matter how beautiful, smart and amazing Katherine was; That it didn't matter that his mind was filled with the images of her wet body hastily covered with a thin towel; That it didn't matter that his mind burned with the image of him exploring Katherine's body and her exploring his, because she would never be his.

He closed his eyes more tightly, and tried to go to sleep.

He heard Katherine approach the bed. Her cool hand gently touched his forehead and slid down his cheek. Even though he knew she was just checking his temperature again, he wished that she was lovingly caressing his face instead.

"I hope you feel better soon, Leonardo. You are a good man, and a good brother." She said softly as her lips brushed softly against his cheek.

He pretended to sleep until he heard the door of the room close behind her. "No I'm not." He whispered to the door. Because if he was a good brother, he wouldn't be lusting after his brother's girlfriend.

He closed his eyes tightly and finally drifted off to sleep. His dreams filled with Katherine gazing at him with love filled eyes, while he held her within the circle of his arms.

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><p><strong>I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter! =)<strong>


	18. Chapter 18

**Thank you, thank you so much to my wonderful reviewers, Outasync, Rocky181, D'Fuentes, Chibiwolf33, and Kaaayyytteee!**

**And thank you to everyone who is reading and enjoying this story!**

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><p><span>Chapter 18<span>

**Katherine** walked down the stairs. She was looking for Donatello, but would take anyone at the moment. She knew she should rest her hand and not try to use it, but she had too much to do, and her fingers were itching to sketch and paint. She had the pictures in her head and they were screaming to be brought out.

She encountered Rogue, who was in the living room watching a movie with Michelangelo.

"Hey Kitten." Michelangelo said happily.

"Hello Michelangelo." She said with a smile. She enjoyed Michelangelo. He was light-hearted and fun. He was always joking and smiling, and yet he seemed to possess a keen insight into his brothers. She had learned from him a little more about Rogue, not so much about his personality, but rather his hobbies, and his likes and dislikes.

Rogue frowned. "You had a shower?" He questioned her as he stood.

"Yup, but it was cut short because my mother called and I had to endure a very embarrassing phone conversation because you broke my phone and it is now stuck on speaker." She accused him. "So now you get to fix it." She said handing him the phone.

"I can't fix this." He said looking at the phone as if it were some foreign chunk of alien technology. "Give it to Donny, he can fix it." Rogue said giving the phone back to her. She stopped with her hand halfway to the phone and stared at Rogue in shock.

Michelangelo had gasped and stood as well. "Raph..." He said softly. "You've remembered."

Rogue's eyes widened in shock. He then shook his head. "I don't remember anything." He protested.

"You do, at least a little. Enough to call your brother by his nickname and know that he is the one who fixes everything." Katherine said as she stepped into Rogue, his arms automatically going around her. She buried her head in his neck. 'It's okay to remember." She told him quietly.

Raphael squeezed her tightly. "I'm not Raphael." He said as he shook his head. "My name is Rogue." She realized then that she had been right. He didn't want to remember. Because there was something he didn't _want_ to remember.

"Come on Rogue, come walk with me." She said as she led him away from the living room and outside into the bright sunshine. She vaguely wondered where April and Casey had gotten to, but figured they were probably with Donatello somewhere, and Donatello was probably still in the house.

She held Rogue's hand as they walked. His hand was cool in hers, but she didn't mind. His three fingered grasp didn't bother her either. She had told her mother the truth when she had told her that she found Rogue attractive. There was something about his eyes that she found mesmerizing. His textured skin fascinated her and when he looked at her with his eyes smouldering with whatever emotion he was feeling, things were pulled tight in her within her lower belly.

The problem was that she wasn't exactly sure what sort of relationship they had. She was frightened that when he finally got his memory back, that he would change his mind about her, and disappear. It was the reason she felt so tentative about their relationship.

But Katherine also had the distinct impression that Leonardo was not pleased about her relationship with Rogue, but she couldn't really understand why. There were too many mixed signals coming from Leonardo at the moment.

Her mind turned to thoughts of Rogue's older brother. There was some part of her that was intrigued by him. He had never frightened her except when he had grabbed her in the alley. When she had looked into his eyes and realized who he was, she had ceased to fear him. She had understood his motives and his reactions. For all of his strength, determination, and need to be the 'big brother'/father figure, there was something oddly vulnerable about him.

"Kitten..."Rogue began, but she put a finger to her lips. She closed her eyes and listened. She turned her head more towards the sound she had heard.

She slowly led Rogue closer to the sound. They were silent in their approach. Katherine slowly crouched down, motioning for him to do the same.

She studied the clearing straight ahead. A doe emerged, her head held high ears and eyes alert scenting the wind for predators. She flicked her ears and began grazing.

Katherine wished she had brought her sketchbook and a pencil. Rogue thought she had a photographic memory, and she wished she did. She would have done way better in school. Rather she remembered everything as if it were a picture. She took in as much detail as she could and stored it away for later.

She realized then that she actually didn't know where her sketchbook had gotten too. She had put it on the chair when she had begun painting, but it hadn't been there when she had left the room. Embarrassment flooded her cheeks at the thought that either Rogue or Leonardo may have found the sketches of them at the back of the book.

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><p><strong>Rogue<strong> was crouched behind some underbrush watching a deer graze. Although he was impressed that the nearness they had managed to get to the animal, he really didn't understand what Katherine was doing. Though if he were honest, he never really knew what Katherine was doing most of the time. He never really knew what she was going to say or do.

Katherine slowly began approaching the deer. She had let go of his hand and he figured he would let her try to get as close to the deer as she could on her own. She stood in the clearing, the deer's head shot up and looked at her. It backed up a few steps, but stopped at stared at her. The deer looked at her and approached a few steps.

It's ears flicked as Rogue shifted position. The deer turned and bolted.

He felt guilty then because Katherine had somehow managed to get almost within touching distance until he had scared it off.

"Sorry Kitten." He apologized as he walked into the clearing.

"You are rather like that doe I think." She said still looking in the direction the deer had darted.

He frowned. "I ain't a coward Katherine." He said angrily.

Katherine chuckled. "I never said you were. The doe is not cowardly, it would never understand the concept of either cowardice or bravery." She looked at him seriously. "You are worried about getting your memory back. Like the doe you approach your memory with caution. You can see it right there in front of you, but you shy away because no matter how unthreatening it appears to be, you do not know if it will harm you or not." She looked at him then. "But I think your memory wants to come back, and there is part of you that wishes you remembered it as well."

"I can't lose you Katherine." He said softly.

"So are frightened that if you get your memory back I will not like who you believe you are? Or is it that you believe you will no longer have feelings for me?" She questioned him.

He looked down into her green eyes. "I don't know." He said honestly. There was something about her that inspired honesty. Maybe it was that she was so straightforward and honest herself. She never shied away from asking the tough questions, even if the answer to the questions may hurt her.

"I want you to get your memory back. No matter what happens. Because I can never regret having known you." She said to him as she leaned in and kissed him. He clutched at her as if she were a lifeline, that if it snapped, would send him shooting off into the dark, where he would never find his way back to the light.

She pulled away and looked at him seriously. "Leonardo told me of the fight between you. He said that you attacked him while he was defenceless." She told him bluntly.

He looked at her in horror. He shook his head in denial. "He's lying Kitten. He wants you to hate me, to be scared of me!" He said looking at her desperately, his eyes begging her to disbelieve Leonardo.

"And why would he do that, so he could take you away if I were to fear you?" She shook her head. "I believe him." She said dashing his hopes that she would not believe him capable of such a thing. A wave of betrayal burned through him. "I could never hate you Rogue. I believe anyone could be capable of anything in the right circumstances. But he told me that you instantly regretted your actions, and felt horrible about them."

Too many emotions warred within him. She trusted him, even if what Leonardo said was true, she still believed in him. He felt himself humbled again by her. "Katherine, what if I really am the monster my brother has painted me to be?" He asked her softly.

"You are not a monster Rogue. If you felt no shame, no horror, no regret at what you had done, only then would you be a monster." She said giving him a supportive smile.

He crushed her to him. "Thank you." He said as his heart lightened. He gently kissed her. But his gentle kiss became more, it became fuelled by desire. He pulled her down with him and lay her gently on the grass. He explored her mouth and her body through her clothes. He wanted to touch her, to taste her, to be all over her. She grasped him close and she groaned in frustration.

"It's not fair." She said as he pulled away from their kiss.

"What isn't fair?" He asked.

"You have so much more skin to touch than I do." She said as she ran her fingers down his plastron. She had managed to pull his shirt off, though he had resisted removing any of her clothing.

He looked down at his chest in worry, his eyes looking back at her uncertainty. She was smiling at him teasingly.

"Well you know Kitten, my shell doesn't cover everything." He said with a wicked grin.

Katherine chuckled but didn't take his offer, not that he expected her to, and though he was disappointed, he wasn't surprised. "We'd better get back." She said pushing him off her. He helped her up and they strolled back to the house in a comfortable silence.

"Kitten." He asked pulling her to a stop a little bit away from the house. She tipped her head to the side in question.

"Can I sleep with you tonight?" He asked her. She looked at him in shock, a blush blooming on her cheeks. "Not in...Not in that...The couch is uncomfortable." He finished. "I won't touch you, promise." He said sincerely. Even though he wanted to so badly it hurt.

She nodded and pulled her hand from his grip. She walked into the house leaving him outside to be alone with his thoughts. He looked down at the hand that had been holding hers. It was red with her blood.

He looked at the blood in horror. She hadn't even made a noise to indicate that she was either bleeding, or that he had unknowingly hurt her. He strode up to the house only to be met by Casey who was coming out the back door a can of pop in his hand.

"Hey R-ogue, can I talk to you a sec?" He asked.

Rogue shook his head. He didn't want to talk to him. He wanted to go and make sure Katherine was okay. "Go away." He growled.

Casey put a hand on his chest preventing him from walking past him. "If you're wonderin' 'bout Katherine, Donny's looking at her hand and tearing a strip off her right now. She's in good hands." He said pulling him along towards the garage. "I seen a sweet ride in here and wanted a better look." Casey said as they entered the garage.

Rogue crossed his arms over his chest, his shirt still in his hand. He glared at his supposed 'friend'.

Casey whistled his appreciation. "Wow, I didn't think they made this bike in this colour. I mean, black yeah, but the red seats. Must be a custom job." Casey turned his attention back to him. "I didn't mean to hurt your girl Rogue." Casey began softly. "I just thought I was rescuin' you." He said looking at him. "I know you don't remember me an' April, but we thought you were dead, then we found out you were alive an' we really thought you was bein' held captive. I'm glad you're alive bro, and glad you're alright."

"Great. We done?" Rogue asked in irritation as he flicked a glance at Katherine's bike then back to Casey.

"Listen bro, I'm really gettin' tired of your attitude. You keep pushin' us away and I'm sick of it!" Casey yelled at him.

"I don't know you, I don't know any of you!" He yelled in frustration. "Kitten is the only one who matters to me!"

Casey looked at him and smiled. "You _have_ got it bad, don't you? I'm happy for you bro. I mean, I know you don't know any of us, and as much as it pisses me off, I guess I have to understand. But I've got to salute you." Casey said raising his can of pop in salute. "You're girl's hot. Never thought you had it in you."

"Why?" He asked suspiciously.

Casey laughed. "Cause I know you bro, you have serious issues, but I'm guessin' that you don't know that, and your girl doesn't know it. But I suppose if I could find someone as great as April, you could find someone too." He said with a shrug.

Rogue had been tempted to walk away but paused at his words. "What do you mean?" He growled.

"Well I suppose they way you're actin' right now. You don't want anyone near you. You don't let anyone in. And you've got a temper worse than mine." Casey pointed out.

"So far you ain't tellin' me anything I don't already know." He growled.

Casey turned serious. "I know your secrets bro. The stuff your brother's don't even know. The stuff you don't _ever_ want them to know. I know what you've done to keep your brother's safe. You don't even like yourself, let alone anyone else." Casey paused and gave him a salute with his pop. "I'm just glad you're alive bro." Casey said as he walked away.

* * *

><p><strong>April<strong> watched as Donatello bandaged up Katherine's hand. Donatello was lecturing her on how she could be hurting her hand more by using it. Katherine had just smiled. "Thank you Donatello."

Donatello sighed in resignation. He stood and grumbled something about bad patients.

Katherine had chuckled and smiled at her. April had returned her smile because there was something infectious about it. Donatello stomped off mumbling about having to check in on Leonardo.

Katherine watched Donatello go and turned her green gaze back to her. "Did you want something to eat or drink April?" She asked. "Maybe something light. A sandwich? We're going to have rotisserie chicken cooked ont the BBQ with baked potatoes and corn on the cob."

"Yes, thank you." April said standing. "I can make it myself if you show me where everything is."

Katherine showed her where everything was and she began making a ham sandwich.

April paused and looked at Katherine. "The guys tell me that you seem to do a lot of cooking." She observed.

Katherine frowned in confusion. "What do you mean?" She asked as she took a sip of apple juice.

"I mean the baking, the big meals. It feels like I'm staying with Martha Stewart."

Katherine threw back her head and laughed. "I am the furthest thing from Martha Stewart, believe me." She said with a shake of her head. "I actually don't really like cooking. I don't mind it, I'll do it, but not a big fan."

"But if you don't like cooking, why do you do so much of it? You could just by a bunch of really easy meals, why make everything from scratch?" April asked.

Katherine shrugged. "Because it's too easy I suppose." She said thoughtfully. "I lived with my uncle, here, for a few years. He likes this place. Says it helps him think and it's quiet. I like it here too. Anyway my uncle would tend to get so wrapped up in what he was doing all the time, that he wouldn't stop to just eat. After having peanut butter sandwiches for two weeks straight for lunch and dinner I began to learn how to cook. My uncle had food delivered here, so I made what was available. I burned a lot of things, but I finally got the hang of it. But I found when I actually made the meals, my uncle would stop what he was doing and eat, and we would be able to sit at the table and talk and ejoy each others company. So I just continued doing that. I have to take the time to make a meal, which means I have to stop what I am doing and remember that there is a world outside of pigments and brushes and quadrents and soil layers." She said with a smile. "As for baking, I love baking, I love the smell, I love the acomplishment of it. And who doesn't like homemade baked goods? It reminds me of going to grandmas. My father's mom. She loved to bake, and they were good memories." She said with a smile. "But enough about me. How far along are you?" Katherine asked curiously.

April dropped her knife with a slight clatter, catching it before it fell to the floor. She looked over at the younger woman in shock. "14 weeks." She said to her. "I haven't told the guys." She said as she sat down with her sandwich. "I didn't think it was that obvious yet." She said taking a bite.

"It isn't." Katherine said with a shake of her head. "But you do the touching belly thing."

April smiled and nodded. "I suppose I do." She paused and studied Katherine. She seemed hospitable, open and friendly. "Casey and I thought it would be best not to say anything to the guys until I started to show and couldn't hide it anymore." She began softly. "We thought Raph was dead, and everyone was so grief-stricken, it just didn't seem right to, well, you know." She finished with a shrug.

Katherine nodded. "It is hard to be happy about something when your heart is filled with sorrow. But Raphael is alive and well. So you are now free to share your news. So congratulations!" Katherine said happily.

"Thank you." She said with a smile. "And thank you, for saving Raph's life and taking such good care of him."

Katherine smiled but grew serious. "I just hope that his memory returns soon." She said softly.

April nodded. "Are you and Raph really a couple?" She asked. She had been hesitant to bring up the subject mostly because she wasn't sure how she felt about it. She wanted all of her friends to be happy, to meet someone special, and fall in love, but she had never thought such a thing would be possible. Not only were they mutant turtles, but they hid themselves from humanity. Finding someone was a near impossible task. Couple that with the fact that she hadn't known that they were actually attracted to human women in the first place, and the task had gone from impossible to improbable.

Of course this didn't even touch on if they were actually able to have a physical relationship with a human woman or not. It wasn't something she had ever actually asked her friends.

Katherine blushed. "We're something." She said softly. "So yes, I guess I would classify us as a couple."

April nodded and tried to imagine Raphael with this woman and failed.

Raphael was stubborn, ego-centric, loud, angry, ill-mannered and violent. But Raphael didn't seem that way around Katherine. Raphael was more calm and content than she had ever seen him. He only seemed irritated because of their presence. And when Raphael did rant and rail at Katherine, Katherine seemed to completely ignore him, or calmly talk to him which seemed to diffuse all of the anger that he possessed. So she supposed Katherine and Raphael _were_ a good match.

She understood what Raphael would see in her. She was beautiful, smart, funny, talented, warm and giving, it was hard not to like her. Raphael generally hated it when people looked after or coddled him in any way, especially when he was injured, but Katherine seemed to do it in a way that it didn't seem like she _was_ looking after him. In fact April was pretty sure Raphael was under the impression that he was looking after and protecting her. But April had seen the intensely strong protective streak that Katherine seemed to possess. When Casey was attacking Leonardo, although Leonardo was protecting her with his body, Katherine had twisted herself in such a way that if Casey had managed to attack again, it would have been Katherine who would have taken the blow, not Leonardo. And this brought her back to her study of Katherine. She honestly didn't see what Katherine actually saw in Raphael. Physical aspects aside, it was a mystery to her, but she was not familiar enough with her to ask the question, and she was rather frightened of what her answer would be. Katherine seemed overly blunt and painfully honest.

Katherine interrupted her reverie."I think it would be best if Raphael's brothers stay until he recovers his memory. Hopefully I have convinced Leonardo of this. You and Casey are also welcome to stay here as well, but things may be a little cramped." She said with an apologetic smile.

"Thank you." She said to you the younger woman. "Casey and I will stay the night and head back to the city tomorrow."

Katherine smiled and nodded.

* * *

><p><strong>Rogue<strong> glared down at Katherine. "What do you mean Casey and April are staying in the spare bedroom?" He growled at her.

Katherine yawned. They were getting ready for bed and Katherine was already in her jammies. Her black and white plaid pj bottoms were hanging low on her hips, her tight pink top baring just enough of her stomach to get his blood pumping. A pillow was tucked up under an arm.

"Well it isn't like I could put them on the couch." She pointed out reasonably. "It isn't polite. So you have a choice, sleep with Michelangelo or on the couch."

"Where you sleepin Kitten?"

Katherine smiled. "I have things I have to do. I'll curl up somewhere don't worry." She said as she gave him the pillow that was tucked under her arm.

He growled low in his throat. "Kick Michelangelo out of the room, then we can sleep there and you can put him on the couch." He insisted.

She chuckled. "Goodnight Rogue." She said as she patted him on the cheek and gave him a quick kiss. "I'll see you in the morning, or afternoon as the case may be." She said as she walked down the hall.

He threw the pillow she gave him at the couch. His 'family' and 'friends' were starting to really piss him off.

* * *

><p><strong>Donatello<strong> felt exhausted. He wanted to sleep and yet he felt oddly restless. He was used to staying up late at night and so even though he wanted to sleep, he wasn't in any hurry to sleep on the couch in Leonardo's room.

He went downstairs. He was hoping to find something to occupy him. He paused when he saw a light coming from beneath a door in the hallway. He pushed the door open and spotted Katherine sitting at a desk papers spread out around her.

"I'm pretty sure I told you that you were supposed to rest your hand." He growled at her stepping into the room.

She put a finger to her lips and waved him into the room.

He closed the door quietly behind him. He looked around the room. It was what he would classify as a library. There was a fireplace on one wall, and shelves and shelves of books lining the other walls. The room seemed to be done in rich burgundies and golds, with hints of greens and blues.

He studied Katherine who was almost buried under a pile of papers. He took a sheet of paper from the top of one of the piles. He frowned tipping it this way and that, trying to decipher the scrawl, along with other various diagrams and drawings.

Katherine smiled at his confused look. "I am deciphering my uncle's notes and then sending them off to the Museum." She said as she tossed another sheet into what he assumed was her 'done' pile. He set the sheet back where he had taken it from.

He studied her hand. He could see the blood beginning to seep through her bandages again.

He tutted and gently took her hand in his. "You are never going to get better at the rate you are going."

She chuckled. "I know, but this work will not get done itself."

"Then I'll help. You tell me what to write, and I will write it for you." He insisted.

She looked at him dubiously. But shrugged. "How about we skip that step and you can input everything directly into the computer?" She asked him. "I'll work on organizing the sketches."

He nodded. That seemed to be a better option.

They worked for the next hour or so in a companionable silence. He learned everything he ever wanted to know about an archaeological dig site, and found it rather tedious and boring.

Katherine laughed at him as he entered in another set of numbers. "I know it is really boring. The digging is fun, compiling the data afterwards, not so much. They have people at the museum that will take all of this boring stuff and try to make it more interesting, so that the public will actually come to the exhibit and not be bored to tears."

Donatello smiled and laughed. He found that he genuinely enjoyed Katherine's company. He turned serious then. "I've been thinking, Raph needs to come home with us." He began.

She remained silent as if knowing he was not done his thought. Her eyebrow lifted in question, but gave no other indication of what she may be thinking or feeling at his pronouncement. "But Raphael will not come with us unless you make him." He finished quietly.

It was an odd situation that found he found himself in, where he had to ask for someone elses help regarding his hot-headed brother.

"So you wish for me to tell Raphael that he needs to go home with you?" She questioned.

"Yes. I think if we are able to take him home he may recover more of his memory." He reasoned.

Katherine nodded and he felt his shoulders relax.

"I agree that your presence has helped, therefore we can assume that possibly taking him home may also help, but I will not kick him out."

"I'm not saying to present it that way. Just, if you tell him to go, he may actually leave." He pleaded with her.

She contemplated him. He had begun to respect her intelligence as well as her ability to rationalize things logically, however he had discovered in her a cord of steel that ran through her generally easy-going exterior that gave her a stubborn streak a mile wide.

"No." She said to him bluntly. He opened his mouth to retort but she silenced him with a look. "I am not saying I will not help you, but I will do it in my own way." She said. "Thank you." He said softly.

Katherine nodded, sighed and looked at her pile of papers. "You should rest." He said gently.

"I should." She agreed. "How is Leonardo?" She asked standing up.

"Better. His fever is gone." He said as he stood as well.

"I'm going to crash on the couch in Leonardo's room, do you mind either bunking with Leonardo or Michelangelo?" She asked as she worked out a kink in her shoulder.

"Uh...no." He said in surprise. "I thought..." But cut off his line of thought knowing it wasn't any of his business

Katherine chuckled. "What? That I would be sleeping with Raphael?" She questioned.

He blushed. "I didn't mean..." He began but she cut him off.

"Yes you did." She said with a lopsided grin. "Raphael is sleeping on the couch so it wouldn't be a very comfortable sleep for either of us. I don't mind." She said with a shrug and a yawn. "I'm going to bed, so either you're coming with me or heading to Michelangelo's room." She said as she turned off the light as he followed her out.

He opted for Leonardo's room, he didn't mind sharing the king sized bed with his brother, but he felt guilty about her sleeping on the couch. She just waved him off saying that she was smaller anyway and she had slept on the couch many times and it didn't bother her. She curled up and went to sleep, Donatello after a moment did the same.

* * *

><p><strong>I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter! =)<strong>


	19. Chapter 19

**Again a big thank yo to all of my wonderful reviewers! Thank you to Kaaayyytteee, Ajla (from Norway:), Chibiwolf33, D'fuentes and Rocky 181.**

**I hope everyone enjoys this chapter!**

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 19<span>

**Leonardo** woke to find Donatello sleeping beside him. He was a little surprised, but he really didn't care. It wouldn't be the first time they had had to bunk together.

He stretched. It finally felt as if the daze he had been living in for the past two days had left him. He felt good.

He quietly slid out of bed and walked to the bathroom. He froze as he looked at Katherine, who was lying on the couch. Sunlight streamed into the room bathing her in warm light.

His fingers twitched. He wanted to touch the pale plane of her cheek and find out if it really was as soft as it looked. He resisted the urge.

She wasn't his to touch.

He turned and walked into the bathroom.

When he emerged Donatello was still sleeping, but the couch was empty.

He left the room and went downstairs. The house was silent. He found Raphael sleeping on the livingroom couch. He looked down at his brother and knew that he would have to wait to talk with him.

He managed to find his katanas and strap them to his back. He would go through a series of practice routines and wait until everyone woke up.

He wondered briefly where Katherine had gotten to, since she didn't seem to be in the house. He walked outside and still didn't see her. He looked around. The sun was up, shinning brightly, and there was a slight wind. He took a breath of fresh air and smiled. He felt good, and the quiet serenity of the morning calmed his wearied soul.

He began an intense round of practice routines and an hour later was sweating heavily and felt alive. More alive than he had for over a month, probably longer.

He sheathed his swords and looked around. He decided to go for a short walk around and then go back to the house. He walked a little ways into the brush and scented water. He followed the smell and the sound of gently lapping waves.

He spotted Katherine then sitting on a dock, watching the waves roll in.

He didn't want to disturb her and yet he found himself walking towards her.

"Good morning Leonardo." She said to him over her shoulder. "How are you feeling?" She asked as she took in his sweaty appearance.

He looked down at his sweat covered shirt. "I feel better." He said with a nod.

She smiled and nodded. "That's good." She looked back at the lake. "Can you swim?" She asked him.

He laughed. "I am a turtle."

She laughed. "Hey, you never know." She said with a shrug. "You could go for a swim." She told him.

He looked out at the gently lapping waves then back at Katherine who was smiling at him. "Are you joining me?" He asked with a smile. He realized in horror that he was flirting with her. He covered up his expression by looking at a bird that was foraging on the beach.

"I wish I was." She said truthfully. He looked at her in shock as he tried to read her expression, but failed. He wondered then if she had just taken his offer at face value, and had not thought there was any underlying invitation. "But between bandages and stitches, I am not very water friendly right now." She said with a laugh.

He hung his head in shame. "I..."

"No guilt, remember?" She said standing and poking him in the chest. "Well, if you are not going to go for a swim, we should get back and have some breakfast." She leaned into him and wrinkled her nose. "But you need a shower before you eat. No offence, but you kinda stink." She said with a grin.

He frowned down at himself. He lifted an arm. She was right, he did stink. He flushed with embarrassment.

"I have to convince Raphael to go home with you." She said thoughtfully as she walked along the dock towards the shore.

He stopped walking in shock. "You're making Raph leave? Why?" He asked. He wondered if something had happened between them, if their relationship had fallen apart and had broken up. He wondered then if that was why Katherine was sleeping on the couch in his room and Raphael was on the couch downstairs. Her next words dashed the small uncomfotable feeling that felt rather like hope within him.

"Because Donatello asked me to convince Raphael to go home. Being around all of you has helped, so it is possible that if he goes home he will remember more, or his memory will return completely. So I was trying to think of how to approach Raphael."

Leonardo nodded and continued walking. "Raphael can be very stubborn."

Katherine chuckled. "Yes well, so can I. I know it will be better for him. He needs to get his memory back, so we all have to do everything we can to make that happen." She said to him with a caring smile that made his stomach flip flop. He just wished that the caring smile was because of him, not his brother. He shook off these thoughts.

Raphael met them as they walked in the door. Katherine smiled a bright smile at him. "You're up early." She observed.

Raphael grunted in response as his eyes looked at him with suspicion.

"Where'd you sleep last night?" Raphael growled as he continued to look her over, probably looking for evidence of injury.

"On the couch in Leonardo's room." She said with a shrug. "Donatello slept with Leonardo, so it all worked out." She threaded her good hand through Raphael's fingers. "Com'on let's get breakfast ready, and Rogue, you and I need to talk." She said to him.

Raphael looked at Katherine with trepidation. The words 'we need to talk' were never ones you wanted to hear from a girlfriend.

Leonardo watched their retreating backs, dark thoughts rolling around in his head. He slowly made his way upstairs to have a shower. He would talk with Raphael later.

* * *

><p><strong>Rogue<strong> looked at Katherine as fear rolled around in him. "What?" He growled. He was scared that she was going to tell him to go home, to leave, and even worse than this fear, was that she was going to tell him goodbye, and end whatever sort of relationship they had.

"Hmm someone is extra special cranky today, aren't you?" She asked him

"I'm sorry but I tend to get cranky when I find out that _my_ girl is sleeping in my brother's bedroom and tellin' me we need to talk." He snapped at her.

"Oh, he's your brother now, well I suppose that is definitely a start." She said with a smile but grew serious. "You need to go home Rogue." She said to him. His heart clenched in fear and misery. "And since I know you would not be comfortable with that, but I do think it may help you get your memory back, I think we should take a day trip and go for a visit."

His heart unclenched. "So you wanna drive 2 hours, see where I live and come home?" He asked making sure he understood her intentions.

"If that is okay with you?" She said with a nod.

He thought it over. It was just a quick visit. They would be back. He gave a curt nod.

Katherine smiled at him, wrapping her arms around his neck. He pulled her in for a kiss. She kissed him with a passion that left him wanting more, needing more. She pulled away and looked at him a smile on her face and something else in her eyes.

"Let's get you fed." She said pulling him to the kitchen.

* * *

><p><strong>Rogue<strong> followed the truck in front of him closely. Katherine's arms were wrapped tightly around his waist as he threaded and wove through traffic. They had taken the bike. He had refused to get into the same truck as his brothers. Leonardo had tried apologizing to him earlier, but he just didn't want to hear it.

April and Casey were following them in Casey's van.

They were close to the central park area and the truck veered off following a series of roads that eventually led to an abandoned sewer entrance.

The sewer entrance opened and they rolled through a set of tunnels ending up in an area he would think of as a garage of some sort. He pulled off his helmet, Katherine waiting until he helped her from the bike. His brothers and his friends looked at him as if he was magically supposed to remember that this was his home.

He clutched Katherine to him tightly, his arm possessively around her shoulders.

They seemed to realize that nothing had clicked.

Donatello walked over to a sheet that was covering a bulky object. "When you vanished we brought your bike back and I repaired it. Then we thought you were dead, and it has sat here ever since." Donatello said softly. " It was very badly damaged." He said pulling the tarp off the red bike that was revealed. He walked over to the bike and gently brushed his hand across the surface of the gas tank.

Donatello was looking at him expectantly. "Nice ride." He said with a shrug. He didn't recognize it. And nothing felt familiar about it.

Katherine was looking around. "This is some amazing tech Donatello." She said clearly impressed.

He was not. Though he supposed considering it was a sewer he should be more impressed.

"You have a helicopter?" She said in shock.

"Swiped from Baxter Stockman," Michelangelo said and then paused. "Or was it Bishop or the Foot. I can't remember anymore." He said with a shrug.

"It was Stockman's." Donatello said to him.

The names meant nothing to him. "Would you like to see your room Rogue?" Leonardo asked gently.

He shrugged. Truthfully he just wanted to get out of here. This wasn't his home. Wherever Katherine was, that was home.

Leonardo led him to decent sized room. There was a bed,(unmade) a dresser (most of the clothes on the floor) and various shuriken and knives that had been thrown into the back of the door. There were a few posters of wrestlers and UFC champions. A few magazines were scattered here and there, but otherwise his room was fairly empty.

"Rogue." Katherine said to him.

He looked at her in question thinking that she was going to ask him if he remembered anything, which he didn't. "You are a slob." She observed looking around his room. She walked past him and picked a pair of dirty underwear off the floor.

He blushed even though he didn't remember even wearing the underwear.

Leonardo coughed gently. "We...we left the room exactly how Raph left it."

"We didn't want to touch any of Raph's stuff." Michelangelo said quietly. "He hates it when we go in his room."

"That's because I hate it when you touch my stuff Mikey." Rogue growled.

"Leonardo why don't you give Rogue the tour." Katherine said as she walked over to Leonardo and pulled him from the room.

Leonardo looked at her in confusion as Katherine grabbed Donatello. "Donatello show me your lab." She said as she walked over to Donatello. "Michelangelo."

"On it Kitten." Michelangelo said with a grin.

Rogue frowned in confusion.

* * *

><p><strong>Leonardo<strong> looked at Katherine's retreating back as she dragged Donatello back the way they had come. Michelangelo sauntered up to him and pulled him along as well. "Hey Rogue you should check out our entertainment system. Donny set it up real good." Michelangelo said happily. "And we have all of the game consoles! And you should check out our movie collection!" He said with enthusiasum as Michelangelo pulled him in close. "Leo don't let on that you noticed that Raph's remembered something." Michelangelo whispered in his ear.

"Huh?" He asked in confusion. His brother just gave him a silencing look as Michelangelo dragged Raphael around the lair, pointing out Raphael's favourite heavy bag, his favourite spot on the couch, and his seat at the kitchen table.

Katherine was sitting at the table chatting with Casey and April, mostly about the state of the fridge and general overall cleanliness of the lair.

Leonardo looked around the lair. It was a mess. He didn't even remember cleaning it in the last month, though he didn't remember what they had been eating this past month either. He walked over and looked in the fridge. It was empty except for a jar of pickles. He supposed it was better than finding a fridge full of rotting food.

"I tried to keep this place as clean as I could, but I couldn't be here all the time." April said with a shake of her head. Katherine nodded and gave April what he thougth was an encouraging look.

April stood and took Casey's hand, smiling nervously. Michelangelo and Raphael sauntered into the kitchen. "Casey and I are having a baby." She said with a smile.

Michelangelo, Doantello and himself broke into huge smiles as they congfratulated his friends. Raohael hung back slightly until Katherien basically thrust him at his friends. Congratulations were exchanged, dates discussed and guesses about birth dates and whether the baby was a boy or a girl were debated.

Finally Michelangelo dragged an uncomfortable Raphael away to play some video games. Donatello chatted happily with April and Casey and Katherien looked at the happy couple with a small gentle smile. She looked around the room and her eyes settled on him. He felt his pulse jump.

"Why don't you give me the tour Leonardo." She said with a smile as she stood up.

He nodded and showed her their training room and the living room where Michelangelo and Raphael were engaged in playing a wrestling game. He studied his brother's face. Raphael looked focused and slightly angry, but that was only because Michelangelo was winning.

He took Katherine and showed her their bedrooms, which were all a mess, except for his. He had apparently kept his room neat and orderly, though he didn't even remember doing it.

"You can tell a lot about someone from their room." Katherine said softly startling him out of his thoughts.

He looked around his room. His bed, a meditation mat and candles in the corner, a dresser, a few Japanese prints on the walls and his bookcase. It looked just like a room with nothing to really give away anything other than he liked meditating and reading.

"You are very much a control freak aren't you?" She said to him.

His eyes narrowed as he crossed his arms over his chest. "I am not." He said in denial.

She laughed. "Your room is immaculate. The rest of the lair is a disaster, but this is the only room that you have full and total control. It mirrors your view of the world. Here is order, peace and understanding, your world makes sense here. Out there, the outside world, to you, is nothing but chaos." She pointed to his bookshelf. "You like to read, but you don't like to read for pleasure, you read for knowledge."

He assessed her. He thought about everything she had said and realized he was right. Except..."I enjoy reading." He countered.

"I can see that you do." She said pointing to the full bookcase. "But this is heavy reading Leonardo. _The Art of War, Military Techniques of Ancient Japan, Metallurgy, The art of Swordsmanship._ There are a few Classics buried in here, _The complete works of Edgar Allen Poe, Dante's inferno, The Iliad._ This looks like what a student's bookshelf would look like, with all of the textbooks from various classes arranged in alphabetical order. There is nothing fun or lighthearted in here. It is all work and no play Leoanrdo."

He studied his bookshelf. He felt as if he couldn't breathe. _She couldn't know all of that just by looking at his room, could she?_ He studied her. He diecided he could play that game as well.

He licked his suddenly dry lips. "Your room shows me that you obviously enjoy painting, and you are haphazard in your organization." He frowned in thought as he recalled her room. There was nothing else he could get out of it.

Katherine was smiling at him but shaking her head. "That isn't my room." She said to him. "That is the room I am staying in while I am here. I don't live there. Though I am not sure how long I am here for. I have to decide if I want to continue with my schooling and attempt to get my Masters, or if I want to go a different route possibly with my art. I haven't decided yet."

He looked at her surprised. Though he supposed it made sense. She was quite a bit younger than them, she wouldn't be able to afford a house unless she came from money, and he didn't quite get that impression. Also the phone call from her mom was overwhelming but brief, obviously kept short because of long distance charges.

"But if you want," She pulled out her phone. "You can have a look." She scrolled through some photos and stopped. "I got my mom to send a few pictures to my phone of some of the artwork on my walls, but she got carried away and took pictures of my room and wrote me messages about how she was keeping my brothers out, and how it was so lonely being the only woman in the house." She said laughing as she gave him her phone.

He scrolled through the pictures. The room was neat and organized, done in shades of blue, green and brown. There were bookshelves filled with books in alphabetical order by genre, jars filled with pencils, books lay here and there. A few stuffed animals were piled on the bed and there were Egyptian figurines crammed in here and there. The walls were plastered with posters ranging from classic works of art (his namesake included) as well as Japanese manga characters, to fantasy, to artwork that was obviously drawn by her, which also ranged in style and content from fantasy, to manga to still life and animals.

He would have to pin her room somewhere between neat and haphazard. "My art room," She said scrolling through a few pictures

Her art room was a disaster. There were half completed murals on the walls, the room was a mass of splattered paint. Half finished canvases lay propped up against the wall, books sat open spines upwards, all over a table. More books littered the table that was covered in paper, and paint tubes. One wall was a mass of sketches and writing.

"That is Organized Chaos." She said with a chuckle.

He felt as if he should know more about her, and he supposed he did in a way. He knew she like to read, and her books were all over the place from Classics like Jane Austen's _Pride and Prejudice_ to _Rorouni Kenshin_(a manga) to Egyptian hieroglyphics, to fantasy, to mystery, to Shakespeare to the entire collection of _Garfield_ and _Calvin and Hobbs. _

He looked again at the picture of her art room again. Everything was in its place, even when it was scattered it was somehow exactly where it was supposed to be.

He assessed Katherine again. Her room wasn't Organized Chaos, she was. There was something so calm and collected about her that screamed serenity and peace, and yet under that calm outward appearance there beat a personality that was chaotic and random. Her thoughts were all over the place, so much so that he was really never sure what was going to come out of her mouth. He could look at her for hours and never know what she was thinking. And yet at the same time she had an intense focus, which matched her intense gaze and intelligence.

And underneath all of that there was a steel cord of strength, fortitude and bravery that left him in awe of her ability to handle any challenge that came her way. She left him in awe of her.

He blinked. He supposed he did know her, better than he thought he did. He handed her back her camera.

"My brother doesn't even remember who he is and he still hates me." He whispered. He wasn't sure why he said what he had, didn't understand what he wanted from her. He had always had problems understanding Raphael, and now his brother was a literal stranger. The only one who seemed to understand Raphael, was the woman standing in front of him.

"He doesn't hate you. He mistrusts you and doesn't like you, there is a difference." She said to him seriously.

He looked at her in shock. He thought she would at least try to soothe and comfort him in some way, but she didn't. "Do you always just say it like it is?" He questioned softly.

"Honesty does tend to be the best policy, of course that could get awkward in many situations, but if I believe the person is able to handle the truth, I would rather say that then try to make them feel better. Sometimes people need a good dose of reality." She said with a shrug. "But this is about Raphael. Donatello and I agree that Raphael does not seem to want his memory back, but bits and pieces are starting to make it through anyway. Unfortunately if he notices that he is remembering he shuts himself down and his first reaction is to run."

Leonardo frowned and then nodded. "You really do understand him, don't you?" He questioned, his heart feeling like it was being tied down with lead.

"I suppose so." She said with a shrug.

He gave a curt nod as he led her back into the living room. He looked down at his brother who threw the game control down in disgust. Michelangelo had won.

"There is one last thing you should see Rogue." He said to him softly.

Raphael stood and sought out Katherine who was standing partially behind him. His brother's shoulders seemed to relax when he saw Kattherine, as if he was momentarily scared that she had left the lair and gone home, leaving him alone with them.

Raphael's eyes moved from Katherine to himself. Mistrust filled his eyes but he nodded.

Leonardo led him over to the shrine they had made for both Master Splinter, and for Raphael.

The two wooden markers sat on the low table, a stand for incense sat in front of each name.

Raphael looked silently at the table. His brother had paled slightly.

Leonardo opened his mouth to ask him if he remembered Master Splinter, but he felt Katherine's hand slide into his own and give it a squeeze, reminding him to not say a word. He clamped his mouth shut and tried to ignore the fission of awareness that rode up his arm at Katherine's touch.

He gripped her hand back and wished that he was the one to hold her hand, to hold her, to claim her lips in a searing kiss. He wanted to touch all of her pale skin and find out if it really was as soft as it looked. He closed his eyes and shook his head in trying to get the traitorous thoughts from his mind. Raphael was Katherine's boyfriend, not him.

He dropped her hand as Raphael turned his gaze to where Katherine was studying the marker intently. She walked over and knelt down in front of the table.

"Whatchya doin Kitten" Raphael asked in softly a waver of emotion in his voice.

"Just thinking." She said as she stood. "Are you ready to go back Rogue?" She asked him.

"Yeah." He said clearly surprised.

It was then Leonardo realized that Katherine didn't want to push Raphael in any way. And yet he felt a ball of lead settle in his stomach as he realized his brother would be leaving.

"Are you coming Leonardo?" Katherine asked him.

He looked at her in confusion. "I don't understand." He said to her.

"Well, you and your brother's are still welcome." She said with a smile that made his heart skip a beat.

"What?" Raphael said. "Come on Kitten!" He whined.

"Think of it like a family vacation." She said with a smile. "I think we all need one." She chuckled. "It will be fun."

"No it won't." Raphael grumbled. "I ain't sleepin on that couch again." He growled.

"I slept on the couch in my own bedroom for almost two weeks because _you_ were in _my_ bed." She said poking at Raphael in the chest teasingly.

"You could have put me in the guest room." Raphael shot back.

Katherine chuckled. "I could have, but there was a couch in my room so I could keep an eye on you, you know, in case you kicked the bucket."

Raphael looked offended. "In case I kicked the bucket?" He growled.

"Yup, and I was trying to figure out where I could get a shoebox big enough to bury you in if you did." She said mischievously.

Raphael glared down at her. Leonardo held his breath. He knew his brother hated being teased. He waited for Raphael to snap at her. "Shoe box huh?" His brother asked.

"Yup with 'Here lies Franklin' written on the box." She said as Raphael launched himself at her. She laughed as she danced out of the way.

Raphael looked angry, but something told him that Raphael was not actually angry with Katherine.

"Com'ere Kitten!" Raphael said as he managed to grab her around the waist.

"Let go." Katherine said as she playfully struggled in his grip.

"No." Raphael said as he clutched her close. "Never." He whispered.

Leonardo's heart clenched as Katherine smiled at his brother.

"Are you coming Leonardo?" She asked him as she pulled from his brother's grasp.

His heart fought with his mind. He knew it was better if they stayed close to Raphael, tried to help him recover his memories, and yet at the same time his heart was beginning to hurt when he saw Katherine and Raphael together. "Yes, just let us pack a few things." He said softly, because he owed his brother more than just his memory.

* * *

><p><strong>Rogue<strong> looked at the bedroom he was supposed to sleep in. He was sleeping with Katherine, his brother's doubling up in the two spare bedrooms, and he was feeling nervous. He had promised her that he wouldn't touch her, but he was no longer sure he could keep that promise.

"Rogue?" Katherine questioned. He jumped. He hadn't even heard her come up behind him. "You ready for bed?" She asked.

He made a noncommittal grunting noise. Maybe if he said no and waited for her to be sleeping he would be able to resist touching her.

He looked at her then. She looked back at him and tipped her head to the side assessing him. He closed his eyes because his traitorous eyes seemed to give away every thought and feeling when it came to Katherine.

"You remember you promised that you wouldn't touch me?"

He swallowed and nodded. "I remember." He said softly.

"Do you think you could break that promise?" She questioned him. He eyes flew open in shock as he looked at her. "Is it wrong of me to want you to touch me?" She inquired.

He closed his eyes and shook his head. He gave a half grin because she never shied away from bluntly asking or saying what she wanted. She never played any games. He never had to try to guess with her. She was incredible.

He crushed her to him pulling her so close he no longer knew where his body ended and hers began. "I can't Katherine." He choked out. "I want to so badly, but..." He pulled away looking at her in the eyes. "You deserve so much more than that. You deserve someone who actually remembers who they are." Because he couldn't bear it, if when he did get his memory back, he left her.

She studied him searchingly. He didn't even have to put his thoughts into words. They were all right there for her to see. "You have a lot of honour I think Rogue." She observed.

He shook his head. "Leo's the one with honour issues, not me."

Katherine looked at him. "Then just hold me." She said softly.

That he could do.

* * *

><p><strong>Aww kinda sweet.=)<strong>

**A/N Franklin is a childrens book character who is a turtle. (for anyone who didn't get the refrence)**

**I hope everyone enjoyed!**


	20. Chapter 20

**Alrighty all, anyone wondering where the story is going, I think this will very much be a defining chapter. **

** And as always a big thank you to my reviewers Rocky181, D'Fuentes, Chibiwolf33 and Kaaayyytteee!**

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 20<span>

**Donatello** looked at his oldest brother in worry. as he paced the length of the garage. It had been over a week since they had returned from the lair and he and his older brother had an uncomfortable and slightly alarming conversation in the garage.

_Donatello looked up at Leonardo in confusion. "I thought you already went to bed?" He questioned as his brother walked into the garage. It had been a couple days since they had returned from the lair and Raphael had yet to remember anything._

_"I did." Leonardo said as he picked up a random piece of machinery. "I couldn't sleep. I keep thinking about Raph and how he doesn't seem to want to get his memory back." He said softly._

_Donatello slid out from underneath of the wreck of Katherine's uncle's car, and stood. He walked over to the workbench grabbing a cloth and wiping the greese from his hands. "It makes sense. Raph doesn't trust us, he was ashamed and horrified at what he did to you and he was nearly beaten to death. We don't know what kind of pain and terror he went through. It makes sense that he wouldn't want to remember that night at all, and thus can't remember who he is since it is because of who he is that that night happened in the first place." He shrugged as he thought about Raphael."And besides, he has Katherine now. The thought of losing her terrifies him, more than never remembering who he is." He paused and then continued. "Mikey thinks we should just leave Raph here. He'd be safe and happy. All of our enemies think he's dead. He would be free of the fear, danger and misery that periodically invades our lives." He finished softly._

_Donatello watched as loss and pain rose up in his brother's eyes. A fierce light of determination lit his eyes banishing these emotions._

_"Raph deserves better than that." Leonardo said angrily. "Raph is a fighter, a warrior, it is who he is. Raph isn't himself right now, it's him, but not." He protested._

_"Yes, but isn't this version of Raph better?" Donatello asked him._

_"No, because it isn't him."_

_Donatello sighed. "There isn't anything we can do to make Raph remember who he is Leo, other than to just be here and constantly remind him of who he is."_

_"There is one thing we can do." He said softly. Donatello looked at him in confusion._

_"Raph is scared of losing Katherine, so we take away that fear."_

_Donatello looked at him in growing understanding. "You want them to break up?" He asked slowly._

_"It's the only way Donny. If Raph loses her, he'll only have us." Leonardo said reasonably._

_But Donatello could see the sick feeling that welled up within his brother at what he was proposing._

_Donatello frowned. "The logic is sound Leo, but it isn't right." He said shaking his head._

_"I know Donny." He said softly._

_"So just leave them alone." He said sternly._

_"I can't Donny." Leonardo said, his voice shaking with emotion._

_"Raph would never break up with her Leo, and Kitten won't break up with him, even if it will help Raph get his memory back." Donatello pointed out._

_"I know." He said softly._

_"What are you planning to do Leo?" Donatello growle,d an uncomfortable feeling of worry and eventual culpability welling within him._

_"I don't know Donny. I figure I will try to warn her away, threaten her, try to tell her who Raph really is, find the weakness in their relationship, anything."_

_Donatello frowned, shaking his head as he tried one more time to dissuade his brother from the course he was going to take . "I don't like this Leo. You do this, you might get Raph's memories back, but he'll most likely hate you for it." He warned._

_"I don't think Raph can hate me any more than he already does Donny." Leonardo replied softly._

"Are you okay Leo?" He asked. His brother looked tired and worn, and yet somehow he looked better than he had a week ago. He had regained much of his muscle mass and looked otherwise healthy. Even the worry lines that had been etched into his face seemed to have lessened to a certain extent. Not that he was surprised. Katherine was a force to be reckoned with. None of them could escape her. She considered all of them under her charge and so she made sure they were fed, rested, entertained and cared for. He would think of her as motherly except here was nothing motherly about her.

Even he had brought down her wrath when he stayed up too late a few nights in a row and she had found him sleeping at the workbench in the garage. She had threatened to lock him out and take away all of his tools if he didn't start getting some rest. He hadn't though she was serious and when it occurred again she was true to her word. The garage had been locked and when he had managed to break into the garage, it was empty of anything but some dust and the clunker car of her uncle's. But with no tools there was nothing for him to tinker with.

He had been awed that she had somehow managed to clean out the garage without him noticing. He was still trying to figure out how she had done it.

"Yes Donny, I'm fine." Leonardo said as he walked out the open door of the garage.

He still didn't know what his brother was doing regarding his plan to break Raphael and Katherine up. He had tried to convince his brother on several occasions to just leave them alone, but Leonardo was adamant in retaining his course.

* * *

><p><strong>Leonardo<strong> walked into the Kitchen as he towelled off the sweat from his face and neck. He had been rising early and trying to get a rigorous workout in before the rest of his family woke up. He had even managed to get Raphael to agree to train with him in the afternoons along with Donatello and Michelangelo

"Good Morning Leonardo." Katherine said brightly.

Leonardo looked at her in surprise as she placed a cup of tea in front of him.

He looked at her in confusion. "I know you've been getting up early and training outside." She said pleasantly to him as she set a plate of pancakes in front of him. His stomach grumbled loudly. He usually never went for heavy breakfasts in the morning, but he had found he had a weakness for Katherine's pancakes.

He studied her for a moment. He had been acting cool towards her, he knew, but if she noticed or if it bothered her in any way she didn't let on. "Thank you." He said softly as she went about cleaning up her own dishes and putting the rest of the batter in the fridge to be used when the rest of his brothers woke up.

He studied her as she cleaned.

He had found that Katherine fascinated him. She was so like, and yet unlike him, in every way. She was controlled, funny, smart and caring.

He liked to think he was in control of his emotions, but when faced with Katherine's iron control, he knew he had just been fooling was not a jokester like Michelangelo, and did not consider himself humorous by nature, and yet he found himself laughing with her and making her laugh in turn. He knew that he was intelligent, not as intelligent as Donatello of course, but he was continually awed by Katherine's quick mind and understanding of him and his brothers. He cared for others, but the way she had opened her home and looked after them left him humbled.

And yet he had spent the better part of the last week and a half trying to figure out how to break Raphael and Katherine up.

He contemplated his dileman, the same dilema that had been plaguing him for the past 10 days. He knew Raphael would never leave her, but he had tried to find some way to possibly make him think that Katherine wasn't as great as she seemed to be. But the problem was that she was perfect.

She wasn't actually perfect, she was stubborn, bossy, blunt, completely scatterbrained and incredibly forgetful. And yet, these faults just seemed to enhance rather than retract from her personality.

He was used to being the leader, the one his family turned to, but now Katherine seemed to have taken over his role. He didn't expect Raphael to come to him for advice or with his problems or concerns, or even just some ideas of what to do that day, but Michelangelo and Donatello now seemed to go to Katherine first for everything as well. And this wasn't even the worst part. She had been able to get his generally slovenly brothers to help with all of the chores around the house. Leonardo knew he was already a bit of a neat freak, but the fact that Katherine had managed to get his brothers to pitch in and help left him in awe of her abilities of persuasion.

His traitorous stomach grumbled again as he shoved a forkful of pancake into his mouth and his taste buds sighed with pleasure.

"Is there anything else you need Leonardo?" She asked him.

_Yes, for you to break my brother's heart so he can come home with us and remember who he is. _He silently said to himself. "No thank you." He said instead.

"You'll clean up when you are done?" She asked as she walked towards the back door.

He nodded as she walked outside. She would be back in an hour or two. She was going to weed the garden, which she hated. She had told him that she would rather do toilets then weed, and he had to agree with her. Donatello didn't seem to mind weeding too much and his younger brother would usually help her, which he guessed by the slightly evil expression on her face as she left, Donatello was going to get a rude awakening for sleeping in the garage last night.

Leonardo smiled to himself. It had been fun helping Katherine empty out the garage that one night. He, Raphael and Michelangelo had all helped. Donatello's expression had been priceless when he found himself locked out of the garage, but when he finally managed to pick the lock, he found the garage empty. She never had let on how she had done it, and they had kept silent as well.

Leonardo shook his head trying to get the pleasant thoughts from his mind. The only fault he had found with her that he could see Raphael having a problem with was that she completely ignored everyone and everything when she painted. Raphael should have been bored and irritated. He trained with them in the afternoons, but when the weather was unpleasant Raphael was up in Katherine's room watching her paint.

He remembered watching her the one day but although he had watched her, he hadn't really paid too much attention to her. But one day when Raphael was out helping Donatello with some heavy lifting, he had decided to see why Raphael wasn't bored.

She hadn't acknowledged him when he had entered her room which meant he now fell into what she considered normal and 'not important', which actually made a warm feeling well up in him.

He had sat on her bed and watched her for a few minutes. After two hours had gone by, he finally understood. Watching Katherine paint was like watching a sunset, or revelling in the beauty of a quiet lake or waterfall. She was beauty in motion. She had stripped down to a pair of shorts and a bikini top. And although he was momentarily sidetracked by this, when she painted it was like she was working magic. Paint was applied as if she and the canvas were doing a dance. Colours were changed and added and mixed. He found himself amazed at her abilities to coax life into a flat white canvas board, and make it breathe.

So he abandoned any hope that Raphael would leave her. It would have to be Katherine to leave Raphael. He reviewed Raphael's faults. Raphael was stubborn, obstinate, egotistical, proud, loud, easily irritated, quick to anger, irrational, narrow minded, violent and selfish.

Leonardo sighed in frustration. The problem was Donatello was right. This version of Raphael _was _better. He still had all of his faults, but somehow, they had been tempered. He wasn't sure if all of Raphael's faults were to keep everyone as far away from him as possible and not let anyone close to his heart, or if Katherine was just really _that_ good for him. For all he knew it was a combination of both.

Even Raphael's temper was not as easy to ignite. He angered, but somehow Katherine was always there to talk him out of it. And she was able to. He listened to her, and some small part of him was jealous that this woman was able to handle his brother better than he was.

Also Raphael's temper did not seem to bother her, which meant he had no recourse but to either warn her away or threaten her, and it made his stomach feel ill just thinking about doing either. But he had a duty to his brother.

He stood and walked out the back door.

He found Katherine alone, kneeling in front of a flower bed. Katherine had on a pair of gardening gloves and was abstractedly pulling weeds.

He knelt down beside her. She gave him a wry smile. "Come to help Leonardo?" She asked him.

"Yes." He said as he looked over the flowerbeds. "Donny still sleeping?"

Katherine chuckled. "I was going to wake him, but he seemed so peaceful and my uncle's car looks so much better than it did."

Leonardo nodded and studied the flower bed. Everything was green. He didn't know what was a weed and what wasn't. He reached down and began plucking some of the smaller flowers from the bed.

"Those are the ones we want to keep." Katherine said with a smile leaning in close to him.

He started because he hadn't known she had gotten so close to him. He had been trying to figure out how to warn her away from his brother. He looked at his hands in shock as he dropped the plant in his fingers.

"Sorry." He mumbled.

"It's okay, I barely know what's a weed and what isn't. I don't see why my uncle doesn't just hire a gardener to do this, but I don't really think my uncle even knows he has a garden here." She said with a shake of her head and a fond smile. "I love the look of gardens, and I am always left in awe of people who can pick all of the right plants and flowers that seem to go together to make amazing gardens. I however do not possess that talent." She shrugged as she pointed to a small tiny bit of plant. "That's a weed. Anything bigger than that I figure if it managed to escape me pulling it, deserves a chance to get bigger so I can actually tell if it is a weed or not." She said with a laugh. "Like this one here." She said pointing to a prickly spindly looking plant. "Weed." She pulled it. It had actually gotten pretty big. "And that one." She pointed to a green plant with yellow flowers. "Weed, but pretty non spiky weed, so I will keep it." She said with a joyous laugh.

She brushed her cheek with the back of her hand spreading a smudge of dirt across the pale plain of her cheek.

"So what did you want to talk to me about?" She asked him as she turned back to her haphazard weeding.

He swallowed. "Has Raph remembered anything new?" He asked her.

"Not really. A few random observations about your personalities, but no actual memories." She said softly.

He nodded. "Our lives are dangerous Katherine." He said to her.

"I know." She said as she continued to weed. She had lost her smile, but her emotions were closed to him.

"By knowing us, you could be in danger." He continued.

She straightened and looked at him. Her eyes searched his and he didn't know what she found, but she nodded. "Raphael was hurt, but he healed. His memory will return. We have to be patient Leonardo. In everything we must always be patient. Sometimes the waiting is worth it, and sometimes it isn't, but we will never know which it will be until it happens. Don't pull the daisy, it's my favourite weed." She said as she stilled his hand with her own. "The term weed is a completely arbitrary word you know. If it is considered a nuisance or is not regarded as pretty or helpful it is classified as a weed." She cut a flower from the plant he was about to yank. She smelled it and smiled brightly at him then tucked it into the side of his mask. He was entranced by her smile and her sparkling eyes.

She stood and he followed. He looked at the garden and realized that it was a chaotic as she was, and somehow, that made it beautiful, because she didn't care if there were what most people would consider undesirable plants in amongst the flowers. She liked them because they were beautiful to her. "Katharine." He said as she was about to turn away. She looked at him inquiringly. "You have..." He said as he reached out and brushed the smudge of dirt from her cheek. She looked at him in surprise a blush spreading across her cheeks. She gazed at him as he gazed back at her. The moment he touched her cheek he felt a fission of awareness blaze through his fingertips and up his arm.

He felt caught by her, as if he was unable to turn away or move. And he knew that whatever he was feeling, she felt it too.

"Dirt." He managed to say. She looked at him in confusion as they both seemed to shake themselves out of whatever had just happened between them. "There was some dirt on your cheek." He managed to mumble.

"Oh. Thank you. I just need to..." She said pointing in the direction of the garage. He nodded as he watched her turn and enter the garage.

He looked at the garden as a thousand thoughts flew around in his head. He took the daisy out from where she had tucked it into his mask. _Her cheek really was as soft as the finest velvet. _He thought with abstraction as he tucked the flower into his pocket.

He swallowed and his stomach churrned. He now knew how to break Katherine and Raphael up.

* * *

><p><strong>Katherine<strong> walked to the garage and slipped silently inside as not to wake Donatello.

Leonardo's disapproval and coolness towards her hadn't bothered her. She could understand that he was feeling powerless and a degree of resentment towards her in regards to Rogue trusting her more than he trusted his own brothers. She got that, and yet at the same time she tried to be as pleasant as possible to let Leonardo know that she wasn't the enemy, that she had Rouge's best interests at heart as well. So even when he was acting cool towards her she would occasionally see the real Leonardo poke through, as if he would forget that he was supposed to be haughty and disapproving. And she rather enjoyed his company when he let his guard down.

And she knew Leonardo didn't seem to approve of her relationship with Rogue, but he had never outright told her so. But just now she had felt as if he were attempting to warn her away. And yet she had gotten the impression that there was an underlying message he was trying to tell her with his eyes. She felt as if he were somehow blaming her for Raphael's memory still not having returned, though how she would be responsible for that, she wasn't sure.

_So what had just happened?_ She asked herself as she closed her eyes and tried to get her wildly beating heart under control.

If she was honest with herself she knew that she had always felt an awareness of Leonardo when he was around, but she had been completely staggered by the heat that had coursed through her at his touch. She had been, in that moment, aware of Leonardo. Not just as Rogue's older brother, but she had been aware of him as a man, and that terrified her.

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><p><strong>BUM BUM BUMMMM! Thought opinions?<strong>


	21. Chapter 21

**A big giant thank you to all of my reviewers! Thanks to D'Fuentes, Rocky181, Chibiwolf33, Outasync and Kaaayyytteee!**

**Also this will be the last update this week, but I'll try to post the next chapter on Monday!**

**Thank you all so much for reading and enjoying this story!**

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><p><span>Chapter 21<span>

**Leonardo** needed Raphael to get his memory back, no matter what the cost, because he owed it to his brother. And so for the next two weeks he planned and timed his assaults with military precision.

He woke up each morning as his stomach churned at what he was doing.

He was trying to break Katherine and Raphael up by making Katherine realize that there was something between her and himself. Katherine was smart and thought very logically. He was hoping that by making her aware of him, it would lead her to the conclusion that she needed to break up with Raphael because she could not truly love Raphael if she felt something for him as well.

He wasn't obvious about his intentions towards her, but he had let the cool distance he usually kept between himself and Katherine fall. He was also very careful not to let Raphael catch on that he was spending more time with Katherine than he should. Mornings were easiest because Katherine woke up earlier than any of his brothers.

However he had laid some ground rules for himself. This was his last ditch effort, but there were lines that he could not cross, even to get his brother's memory back.

He would not touch her. Ever. There would be no more skin to skin contact of any kind, because Katherine was Raphael's girlfriend and there were some lines he would not cross. Also he was only trying to break them up, he was not trying to take Katherine away from Raphael, so he had to be careful that Katherine's feeling for him not develop too far.

And so it was that the past two weeks had flown by. Katherine had been mildly suspicious of him to begin with since his coolness towards her had suddenly vanished, but she slowly relaxed and enjoyed his company, and he had begun to enjoy hers.

He would find he had to remind himself that he was executing a plan, that he was not supposed to actually enjoying her company.

Though no matter how many times he had told himself this, he always seemed to forget.

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><p><strong>Donatello<strong> watched as Katherine pulled back her arm and swung it forward releasing her hold on the heavy metal horseshoe. The clang of metal on metal reverberated through the air.

Katherine jumped up and down. "Ringer!" She shouted.

Raphael laughed from the other end of the pit, where he stood with Michelangelo.

"15 -4. You are goin' down!" Raphael yelled with a broad smile.

"Nice throw." Leonardo said with a nod at Katherine.

"Thanks!" She said happily.

Michelangelo took the shoes that Raphael had given him. "My turn first Mikey." Raphael said as he threw his two shoes. They landed in the pit, but not close enough to the pin to count.

Michelangelo snorted. "The only reason you're winning Rogue, is that you have Kitten on your team." Michelangelo said as he threw his own shoes and managed to get a point.

"Point! Leonardo your throw." She said handling Leonardo his horseshoes.

"I call Kitten on my team next." Michelangelo said as Leonardo threw his two shoes.

"Leaner! Two points!" Michelangelo said happily. "Were going to catch up Rogue."

"Yeah, well Kitten hasn't thrown yet. Com'on Kitten knock him out of there." Raphael shouted at her.

Katherine smiled, but her smiled began to waver as Leonardo stepped closer to her as she threw the shoe. It landed outside the pit rolling end over end as Michelangelo jumped out of the way.

"Alright Leo! Distract her, do it again!" Michelangelo yelled.

"Hey! I call interference!" Raphael yelled.

Katherine looked at Leonardo a frown on her face as she assessed Leonardo who was giving her a mischievous smile.

Donatello frowned. He had wondered what it was that his brother had planned to get Raphael and Katherine to break up. When pressed, Leonardo had admitted to not knowing how he was going to actually break Katherine and Raphael up. But these last two weeks Donatello had noticed a marked difference in the way Leonardo was treating Katherine. He just didn't know what it actually meant.

"You want to play that game Leonardo, fine, we will play." Katherine said softly as she threw a ringer on his leaner effectively cancelling Leonardo's shoe and gaining the 3 points. "Come on Rogue, we just need one ringer and we win!" Katherine shouted at him.

Raphael looked with determination at the sand pit and metal peg in front of him. Raphael threw his shoe harder than he needed to causing it to bounce and roll. Katherine leapt out of the way stumbling into Leonardo who looked surprised as he tried to avoid her, but ended up catching her and helping to right herself when she was about to fall.

""Sorry." Katherine said with a blush as she looked back at Raphael.

"Way to go Rogue, take out your own player!" Michelangelo laughed.

Raphael frowned as he concentrated on the pin. He threw the shoe and there was the distinctive _thunk_ of metal on metal.

"21-5. Red team wins!" Katherine laughed as Raphael ran up and picked her up off her feet, swinging her around. Raphael laughed and kissed Katherine.

"Kitten, you are so on my team next time." Michelangelo said as he patted Raphael on the back.

"Hey, get your own girl Mikey. She's mine." Raphael said with a smile pulling Katherine in close. Katherine smiled at Raphael, but frowned as her eyes searched for Leonardo.

Donatello looked to where Leonardo had been standing and realized he wasn't there anymore.

"I'm going to make some lunch, you want to help?" Katherine asked Raphael as he followed her into the house.

Michelangelo walked over to him and lost his smile.

"What's the matter Mikey?" He asked in concern.

"You know how you told me Leo was going to try to break Raph and Kitten up, but we couldn't figure out how he was going to do it?" Donatello nodded. "I figured it out." He said softly.

Donatello looked at his baby brother in confusion. "What's he doing?"

"I don't like it Donny. I don't like it one bit. I don't agree with Leo's reasoning. I think we should just leave them alone and let Raph's memories come back on their own. But Leo is obsessed. He just won't listen to reason."

"I agree with you Mikey." Donatello told him softly. "But what is Leo doing?"

"Playing a very dangerous game." Michelangelo said darkly.

"What kind of game?" Donatello asked.

Michelangelo looked at him in the eyes, his face grim. "He's trying to take Kitten away from Raph."

Donatello felt his mouth fall open. "What?" He asked in surprise. He would never think his brother would do something that low. "Leo's trying to seduce Kitten?" He asked in horror.

"Nothing that dramatic. There's always been a little bit of tension between Leo and Kitten, and he's playing on that, but he's being really subtle about it. He probably thinks that all he needs is for Katherine to start to question her feelings for Raph and she'll break up with him."

"I knew I wouldn't like whatever plan Leo would come up with." Donatello grumbled.

Michelangelo looked to where he could see Leonardo striding back towards them.

"He's probably got it all figured out in his head. He probably figures that he's doing this for Raph's own good. He probably figures that getting Raph's memories back is the only thing that he can do to atone for Raphael nearly getting killed, no matter how much Raph will hate him in the end. And besides, Leo has probably told himself that he _really _isn't doing anything, just being friendly towards her. But Leo doesn't know he's playing with fire, and sometimes when you do that, you get burned."

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><p><strong>Leonardo<strong> watched as Katherine padded softly through the house and out the back door. He frowned. It was 5:00 am and he had just woken up and walked downstairs.

He knew that Katherine woke up early in the mornings, but he had never seen her up so early. He generally spent time with her in the mornings while she made breakfast, before any of his brother's were awake. He used this time spent with her to talk with her and generally try to be as agreeable as possible. The problem was he found himself genuinely enjoying and looking forward to their mornings together.

He followed her out of the house, curious as to where she was going, but not wanting to disturb her if she wished for some time alone. He knew that he and his brothers could be a handful, especially since he was so often in her company if his brothers weren't. Thus he understood her need for peace and quiet. Between the demands of all of his brothers he was actually surprised she hadn't just kicked them all out by now.

Donatello had found odd bits of mechanical devices in the garage and had begun tinkering with them and fixing her uncles' car. But this meant that Donatello was constantly asking if she had certain tools, or occasionally if she knew what the object he had unearthed actually was. They had put their heads together with quite a few things, but time spent with Donatello was time spent away from her painting, and Raphael.

Then there was Michelangelo. He had brought along his game systems, which meant he wanted someone to play with him, or watch really bad movies with him, or in general just hang out with had been surprised one day when he found Katherine laying on her bed with Michelangelo curled up beside her, them both reading comics and discussing various super heroes, the type of comic, as well as the way the comics were drawn and even coloured. He watched as his brother stared in fascination at her as she quickly sketched him one of his favourite superheroes. Then she gave his brother a mischievous smile and drew a collage of all of his favourite heroes all drawn as characters from Alice in Wonderland. Michelangelo had laughed and smiled in a way that Leonardo had believed his brother would never smile and laugh again.

He realized then that somehow Katherine had not only managed to heal Raphael's broken body, but she had also managed to heal their broken family. This sent another wave of hot, sticky, guilt, filled shame through him.

_He was not trying to break her heart, and he was not trying to steal her from his brother._ He reminded himself. _He just wanted her to question her relationship enough to break things off with Raphael_. _So that he could get his brother to remember who he was._

Raphael still hated him and always watched him with suspicion. Not that he blamed him, with the way he probably watched Katherine, he'd be worried about him too.

He shook himself and reminded himself again that he was doing that he was doing this for his brother's own good. Because Raphael needed to remember who he was. Rogue was _not_ Raphael.

Leonardo followed Katherine through the woods and to the dock where he had stumbled upon her before. It was still dark, but sunrise was coming. The sky had begun to lighten. He watched as Katherine dropped something on the deck and began pulling off her clothing revealing a white bikini. She looked at the darkened water and he wondered if she was really going to go for a swim.

In the moment it took him to think that thought she dove in leaving barely a ripple in the lake's gently moving surface.

He turned to leave back to the house when he noticed she hadn't surfaced. He frowned as he walked and then ran to the dock. He could hold his breath for a long period of time, but humans couldn't. He looked out over where he had seen her dive in and couldn't see anything.

He frantically searched the surface but it was still too dark for him to make anything out. He swore as he frantically stripped off his pants, shirt and shoes and dove into the cool water.

He surfaced and knew he was never going to be able to find her. The water was too dark. He spotted a flash of white to his right and he swam as fast as he was able to where he had seen the flash. He hit up against something and he felt arms grab at him and haul him up.

He looked into Katherine's concerned face. He crushed her to him in a fear filled embrace. He tried to get his rapidly beating heart under contorl and found he couldn't. The thought of losing her had pushed a wave of red hot painc through his that left him breathless.

He had been terrified.

"Are you okay?" She asked him.

"Me!" He pulled back slightly in shock. "You scared me half to death!" He said as he tried to calm the bubble of fear that still tried to rise to choke him.

"Sorry Leonardo, I didn't mean to frighten you." She said looking at him with concern.

"When you didn't surface I thought you were drowning." He said brushing her cheek with his thumb as he looked searchingly into her eyes.

"I can hold my breath for a bit, not that long, especially not in comparison to you, but I swam underwater. You were probably looking at where I dove in and missed me when I surfaced further away and continued to swim." She said to him.

He closed his eyes in relief. He looked at her again. "What are you doing?" He asked trying to calm himself. He looked down at what he was standing on. There looked to be a few logs and a rock jumbled together creating a very small, very unstable perch.

She gave him a smile that left him stunned and she put a finger to her lips. "Watch." She said as she pointed towards the horizon.

He watched in wonder as the sun rose over the mountains bathing them in a warm orange glow. Blues and purples stood out brilliantly against the orange sky. He looked at the dawn in wonder as it began to glint and dance across the surface of the lake.

It looked as if liquid gold was making its way towards them and then bathing them with the same radiant light.

He looked at Katherine in shock as the sun bathed her in a warm glow. She was smiling and taking in the magnificent unbridled beauty of the sunrise.

"Beautiful." He mumbled, but he wasn't sure if he was talking about the sunrise or her.

She looked at him and chuckled. "This is the best spot to watch the sun rise over the mountains."

It was then he realized that he was still holding her in his arms. She pulled away and smiled at him. "Race you back to the dock!" She said with a laugh as she dove into the water. He looked at the gently rippling surface in shock and then smiled, diving in after her.

He helped her up onto the dock as she laughed. "I should have known better than to challenge a turtle to a swimming race. And I'm pretty sure you would even beat me in a land race too."

He smiled at her and laughed. She made his heart feel light and happier than he had ever felt. She grabbed her towel and threw it to him. He looked down at his boxers. He blushed. He realized that they were both almost naked. He scrambled for his pants his tantō falling from his front pocket.  
>He bent down to pick it up, but she was faster.<p>

She held the dagger in her hand and looked at it thoughtfully. She twisted it around in her hand, the tip pressed against her finger. She no longer wore a bandage on her hand, but as far as he could tell, her hand still bothered her. He looked at her and felt shame well from within him.

"I think that the world would be a sadder, darker, place without you in it Leonardo." She said to him softly.

"I wasn't and I am not suicidal." He said as he attempted to grab the tantō from her. She shifted out of the way making it so that he would have to physically restrain her to get it back. And he had already broken his no touching rule.

"Yes, you were." She said bluntly.

"I had a fever. That is all." He growled as he held out his hand for his dagger.

She slid the dagger into the side of her bikini.

His fingers twitched with frustration.

She crossed her arms over her chest. "You don't lie to yourself very well." She observed.

He turned his head away in disgust. "I appreciate your concern, and I am sorry I injured you." He began.

"Raphael said you had honour issues." She said to him.

He looked at her in shock. "He...he remembered."

She shrugged. "He is remembering things, but nothing significant, no full memories. He said 'Leo's the one with honour issues, not me." He said that to me a little over two weeks ago, and I do understand what he was saying."

He narrowed his eyes at her. "I live by a code of honour. It is who I am." He ground out.

"So I have noticed. It is one of the things I like about you Leonardo. But remember, there is a difference between honour and stupidity."

He glared at her angrily. "Who are you to judge me?" He asked in anger. "You know nothing about me, or about my family. You have no idea what it is like to be us, to look the way we do and know that we will always be regarded as freaks!"

She calmly looked at him, his anger not impressing her one bit. "I'm sorry, but I believe we were talking about you trying to kill yourself because of your misguided need to assuage your own honour with little regard to what it would do to your family."

"I thought about my family the entire time!" He yelled at her. "I owed my family my death because I failed them, all of them. I deserved to die, I still do, because when Raph needed me, I abandoned him! And I will not abandon him again!"

Katherine studied him thoughtfully, pulling the tantō from her bathing suit. "I see." She said twirling the tantō in her hand again. She hissed in pain and dropped the tantō to the ground. She knelt down and put her hand over his as he knelt to pick the tantō from the ground. "You truly need Raphael's forgiveness. But you believe that when Raphael get's his memory back he will look you in the eye and say 'you failed me, you abandoned me, and because of you, I nearly died.' And if he tells you this, there is nothing left for you but the cold steel of this blade through your heart." She said softly. Her words ringing absolutely and completely true. "So the question now becomes: Is that the type of man Raphael is, or is that the kind of man you _think_ your brother is?" She questioned as she removed the tantō from his unresisting grip. She tipped his face up to look her in the eyes, her face was so close to his own. "You don't deserve to die Leonardo, no matter what you have done. And you know Raphael would never blame you or want your death, no matter what." She said gently as she stood.

His throat was too tight to talk. He couldn't have answered her if he tried. He didn't know if he even knew how to answer. This conversation was getting away from him. He had to focus. He was supposed to be trying to make her question her relationship with Raphael, not yell at her and get dragged into pointless conversations about how his brother wouldn't blame him. After what he was going to do to his brother, it wouldn't matter if Raphael blamed him for nearly being beaten to death or not, because his brother was going to hate him and probably try to kill him for what he was doing right now.

She was silent a few moments before he saw her walk and sit down on the side of the dock. She dipped her legs in the water and gently shifted them back and forth. "Are you defined by how you look Leonardo?" She asked him softly.

He stood and looked at her in confusion. "Of course I am." He said his voice wavering with too much emotion. She had the innate ability to poke and grab at his most vulnerable thoughts and fears.

"I suppose that everyone is always judged. No matter what, we are always judged. Too pretty, too ugly. Too rich, too poor. Too happy, too sad. Too fat, too thin. A world of opposites, where we will never be what the world thinks we should be." She said quietly.

Katherine smiled, then turned serious. "Everyone believes that I am beautiful. Frankly I don't understand it." She said with a shake of her head.

Leonardo studied her and wondered where her mind was going.

"But I wasn't always pretty. In high school I had the worst hair. It was frizzy and I tended to look like an angry poodle most of the time. I had bad skin and was a little on the chunky side. I went through all of high school being a ghost, or as much of a ghost as I could be I suppose. No one looked at _me_ as anything out of the ordinary. I was even ridiculed for being the disappointment of my family since my mother was so beautiful. And I always came across as a little odd. But I managed to fall into the 'artist' niche which I suppose gave me a little leeway to being a little weird." She said with a smile.

"I graduated and began University the following year. And somewhere along the way, I found a way to control my hair, my skin cleared up, I lost my baby fat, and filled out in all the right places. Suddenly guys who wouldn't even notice me in high school started falling all over themselves in University. I would always get the question. "How come I don't remember you from high school?" She shook her head.

"People seem to think it's so easy being pretty. Oh you are so lucky blah blah blah. Guys pay for your dinks, you get discounts at stores, you got into that program that was full. And yes that has happened, but the downfall is that no one takes you seriously. 'Oh you're pretty so you must be dumb.' Even you know that the Museum director didn't trust my artistic abilities. My Uncle told me about the commission, and it is possible that because Gordon is his friend that he felt some sort of obligation to hire me. He was impressed with my portfolio but the moment he saw me he figured that I was not up to the task, no matter how good my portfolio was."

"And then guys seem to think that I'm easy, which really ticks me off. They think that I must have had sex with tons of guys when the reality is that I haven't had sex with anyone. Pretty does not mean slut." She said shaking her head again. "Believe me when I say I know what it is like to be judged. And I understand what it is like to be judged just on your looks alone, and I have never understood it because it really _is _more important to love what is on the inside than the outside, because looks are temporary, personality is forever."

He sighed and sat down at the end of the dock beside her. He felt defeated.

"Raph can never be a part of your life Katherine." He said softly. "We aren't human. He can never meet your family, never be accepted into your world. We are not only mutated turtles, we are ninja. Our lives exist within the shadows."

Katherine looked over and smiled at him then. He realized that he was never going to ever understand her. He could spend a lifetime with her and never know what she was thinking or how she would react. "Finally warning me away with words Leonardo?" She questioned.

He paused, closing his eyes in shame. "I'm just telling you the truth." _No matter how hard it was for him to say it._

She looked across the lake for a moment, then looked back at him. "To answer your question, no. I can never fully comprehend what it is like to be you or your brothers, but I can comprehend what the pitfalls of loving a mutant turtle would be. I have already thought of the ramifications. I would never be able to marry, or have children. I would have to live on the outside." She smiled at him. "But believe me when I say that I exist there anyway." She stood up then, grabbing her clothes and tucking them under her arm. She looked over her shoulder at him. "And I am not judging you Leonardo, it is not for me to judge you, but it would break my heart to lose you to your perception of honour." She handed him back him tantō. "You had better dry off before you catch cold." She said walking away.

Leonardo didn't know how long he sat at the dock for. He felt like he had been hit by an emotional tidal wave that left him shaking and just trying to catch his breath as realization rode through him.

His fingers twitched as he remembered the feel of her wet, velvety soft skin. He closed his eyes as he finally admitted to himself that he was in love with Katherine. He was in love with his brother's girlfriend, whose relationship he had spent the better part of two weeks trying to sabotage. A wave of panic and guilt assaulted him. And his traitorous heart wanted, needed, for her to love him back.

And the thought that Raphael hadn't touched her sent a treacherous feeling of relief through him.

He finally stood up and walked back to the house. He now had no idea what to do.

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><p><strong>awwwhhhh poor Leo. And I apologize to all of the Raph fans. He was barely in this chapter.<strong>

**Raph: No kiddin; what the hell!**

**DarkUnderworld: Sorry this chapter really wasn't about you, it was about Leo.**

**Raph: I don't know if you can't read, but the title of this story is Rogue, that means it's about me!**

**DU: Well I know but...**

**Raph: No but's! What's your problem! You beat me almost to death, throw me in a dumpster, wipe my memories then have my brother fall in love with my girl! **

**DU: Yup, sounds about right.**

**Raph: And then you don't even put me in this chapter! **

**DU:You were in it.**

**Raph:*snort* barely. What the hell an I doing right now anyway! Where am I? And why haven't I beat Leo into a goey sticky mess!**

**DU:Just read the story.**

**Raph:Well I can't really do that now can I since this is the last chapter you've posted!**

**DU: *sigh* You're in the next chapter okay.**

**Raph:Yeah, how much.**

**DU*Silence***

**Raph:*glare***


	22. Chapter 22

**I didn't think I would be able to post anything until Monday, but I managed to get things done amd weekend plans changed, so here is chapter 22! Hope you enjoy it! =)**

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><p><span>Chapter 22<span>

**Donatello** looked up in shock at Leonardo who kicked a piece of burlap sacking out of his way as he paced back and forth in front of him in the garage.

"Are you okay Leo?" He asked.

"No." Leonardo growled. "We've been here for almost a month and Raph hasn't remembered anything." He kicked at the burlap sack again.

Donatello frowned. Leonardo tended to be pensive and brooding, calm and collected. Right now he was anything but. He was acting more like he had when Master Splinter had sent him away to be trained by the Ancient One. But that was years ago, and Leonardo had learned to control his anger and frustrations when things did not go the way he wanted. But right now, his brother was fraying around the edges and he didn't think it had anything to do with Raphael.

"Leo, these things take time." He protested.

"We have a duty Donny, and we have been neglecting that duty." Leonardo ground out through clenched teeth.

"So you are saying that our duty to a bunch of strangers is more important than our duty to our brother?" Donatello asked in shock.

Leonardo stopped pacing and looked at him. Raw, hurt, and naked need rolled around in his brother's eyes. "I can't betray Raph again Donny." He said as he turned and strode from the garage.

"You catch any of that Mikey?" Donatello asked as Michelangelo slid from beneath the car. Michelangelo generally didn't help him when he was repairing things, but Donatello had needed another set of hands, and Michelangelo had been available.

"Yup." He said as he stood up and looked at the door Leonardo had strode out of.

"So what do you think?" He asked him. Michelangelo tended to be more perceptive than he was regarding his brother's emotional thoughts and feelings.

Michelangelo wiped the grease off his hands with a cloth. "Leo decided to play with fire, and he's burning." He said with a shake of his head.

"Huh?" He questioned confused.

Michelangelo sighed. "Leo's brilliant plan to get Katherine to basically dump Raph has completely backfired. Leo's gone and done the worst thing he could have done."

He looked at Michelangelo in understanding. "So he..." He couldn't finish his thought.

"Yeah. He's fallen in love with her. And now he doesn't know what to do. He's obviously stopped trying to break them up, he just can't do that anymore because now he wants them to break up so that Leo can be with her. And that would be a betrayal even he couldn't live with. Of course he also knows that even if Raph and Kitten did break up, Leo's honour wouldn't allow him to date her, no matter how much he loves her. And I don't know what Katherine's feelings are for him, she too hard to read. But this means, watching her and Raph together is tearing him up inside." Michelangelo said softly.

Donatello nodded and looked at the door, his heart heavy.

* * *

><p><strong>Rogue<strong> curled up against Katherine's back. Her warmth warmed his cool skin. Katherine rolled over so that she could look at him. She smiled at him as he looked over at her.

He enjoyed curling up with her every night. He enjoyed the peace since it was the only place his supposed family didn't intrude, and he enjoyed having Katherine all to himself. His family seemed to take up too damn much of her time, her painting taking up the rest. At least he was able to relax with her and have a half decent conversation without one of his brothers wanting something, or needing something, or even wanting to get him to do something either for them or with them.

It had been a month since he had begun training with his brothers every afternoon if it wasn't too warm. If it was, they trained later in the evening. The only reason he hadn't protested too much was because it felt good to stretch his muscles and take out his frustrations by beating the crap out of his brothers. He especially enjoyed trying to beat the crap out of Leonardo.

He didn't know why but he didn't trust the guy further than he could throw him. And also Katherine was usually busy with her paintings in the afternoons anyway.

He growled and pulled her close. Katherine chuckled and pulled away.

"You aren't in the mood to sleep are you?" She questioned.

"Nope." He said with a shake of his head.

"Then I suppose you should kiss me." She said softly, a hint of invitation in her voice.

Raphael smiled. "I am going to do so much more than _just_ kiss you." He growled as he claimed her lips.

* * *

><p><strong>Leonardo<strong> had made a decision. It was what was best for everyone. His brothers would get along fine without him. And Raphael would be glad he was gone. He had left a note for his brothers on the kitchen table because he didn't want them to try to convince him to stay, but he owed it to Katherine to tell her in person that he was leaving to go back to the lair. But this meant he had to wait until she was alone. Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo were all watching a movie at the moment. Katherine had vanished outside.

It was full dark as he stepped outside the house. There wasn't even a moon, but the stars were strewn across the sky filling it with millions of pinpoint lights. He was awed by their beauty. He always forgot how many stars lit the night sky in the country.

He found Katherine sitting under a large tree, just looking up at the sky, wrapped in a blanket. He watched her for a few moments. It was so dark that he could barely even make out her shape against the trunk of the tree.

He swallowed. He just couldn't bear watching his brother and her together anymore. It hurt his heart too much. But he was happy for Raphael, happy that his brother had found an amazing woman who loved him. Raphael deserved her in his life, because he knew he didn't deserve her to be in his.

Donatello believed that it would take time for Raphael's memory to recover, but Leonardo was beginning to think that his brother would never regain his memory, and he had to brace himself for that possibility.

Katherine shifted and settled again, but he knew she was getting ready to go back into the house. He had to stop her and thank her for everything she had done for his family, and then lie through his teeth and hope she believed the lie he told about needing to get back to the lair because of increased gang activity.

He just had to hope that the darkness would hide his eyes so that she would be unable to see the lie that resided there.

His palms began to sweat as he slowly started towards her. He didn't know why he was so nervous. He didn't know if it was because he was loathe to lie to her, or if it was because getting close to her was too tempting.

He had avoided her like the plague since the incident on the dock. When he had realized that his feelings for her had moved from simple interest and obligation, to love. He knew then that every moment spent in her company was one moment too long. She tempted him too much. Her kind eyes, her playful smile, her quick wit and beauty made it hard for him not to be enthralled by her.

Katherine looked up at him. She had heard him approach. "I thought you were watching a movie?" She said to him in question.

It was then it hit him that she had mistaken him for Raphael. It made sense though. In the dark it was hard to tell the colour of his mask, or even the colour of the clothes he was wearing. He and Raphael had both been wearing dark shirts and jeans and he was not wearing his swords.

He was going to reply, but the words lodged in his throat as it tightened.

He was about to walk away from probably the only woman he would ever love, because his brother had loved her first. He wasn't even sure if Katherine could love him back. Not that this mattered because even were something to happen between Katherine and Raphael, he could never be with his brother's ex-girlfriend.

"I see." Katherine said as she looked up at the night sky. "Come to watch the stars with me instead?" She questioned.

He almost let out a snort because he could never imagine Raphael sitting and looking up at the stars for no reason. He would be bored to tears within minutes. Although with Katherine for company, perhaps his brother had learned a certain amount of tolerance.

Leonardo enjoyed looking at the stars, not like Donatello did, he just liked watching the night sky and allowing his thoughts to drift. Raphael was not big on introspection, but he would imagine holding Katherine in his arms, gently whispering to her, burying his face into her soft hair and neck, turning her face so that he could kiss cupid's bow lips that looked as soft as flower petals, made up for any boredom his brother would feel at looking at the stars.

Need and desire raced through him as he wondered what it would be like to kiss her just once. One kiss to last him a lifetime. But he squashed down the thought because it went against every moral fibre he possessed. He could not kiss his brother's girlfriend, no matter how much he loved her.

He stepped close to her and she looked at him questioningly. "Are you okay?" She asked him as she slowly stood.

He shook his head, not being able to reply because the words he could never say wanted to spill from his mouth. He wanted her to know that he didn't want anything from her, he just wanted her to know that he loved her, and that he was going to walk away. And to take good care of Raphael.

He unconsciously reached out and brushed her soft velvety cheek. It was cold to the touch. Although it was still summer, the nights were getting cooler.

She looked at him inquiringly. He hadn't answered her question, any of them. She would think that Raphael was acting strangely. He opened his mouth to speak, because when he spoke his voice would reveal to her that he was not Raphael.

He stood closer to her and leaned down, claiming her lips in a kiss. She would never know it wasn't Raphael who had kissed her, because when he finished kissing her he was going to walk to the truck and leave without saying goodbye, but knowing what it was like to kiss the woman he loved, and know that he had betrayed his brother.

She seemed surprised at first and then her arms snaked around his neck.

Raphael was right to mistrust him. He would leave the country if he had to, because he could never atone for this betrayal.

His arms wrapped around Katherine as he pulled her more tightly to him. Her lips were as soft as rose petals and she tasted of the sweetest honey.

He tried to pull away but his body wouldn't let him. He realized then that he had made a mistake, because not knowing what it was like to kiss her was better than actually knowing. Now that he knew, he was going to crave her taste and her touch for the rest of his life.

He buried his fingers into the soft silk of her glorious hair as he devoured her. He finally willed himself to pull away. He turned quickly to make his escape. He would walk back to the house, hide in his room until everyone fell asleep and then go home, pack his clothes and disappear. He didn't know where he would go, and he didn't care.

"Leonardo, what are you doing?" Katherine asked him as she grabbed his arm halting his progress.

His head whipped around in shock. He looked at her as she touched her lips with her free hand. Guilt and fear washed through him. "And why does it feel like you are saying goodbye? And not goodbye I will see you next week, but goodbye forever because I am never going to see you again?" She asked him softly.

His throat closed up and his tongue felt two sizes too big for his mouth. "Katherine..." He managed to croak out. He didn't even know how to begin to explain his actions.

"Where are you going?" She asked cutting him off.

"Home." He said softly.

"And then?" She asked in a no nonsense tone.

He shook his head, because he wasn't sure.

"Why are you running away Leonardo?" She asked gently.

He shook his head again because he had fooled himself if he ever for a moment believed that he could deceive her.

"I see." She said quietly.

"I can't stay." He said with regret. He knew that Raphael, whether he got his memory back or not, would be in the best, most capable and loving hands.

"You are running. And to think, I never would have thought of you as a coward." She said letting go of his arm and crossing her arms over her chest.

He felt as if she had slapped him. He was not even able to respond he was so hurt by her accusation. Finally he was able to grind out, "I am not a coward." He said emphasizing every word and syllable.

"No?" She questioned.

"No." He growled. "I'm not running away because of guilt." He defended.

"No, you are running away because you are in love with me." She replied softly.

Leonardo felt the blood drain from his face and the ground wavered slightly. "How long did you know?" He asked in a strangled voice.

"Since the morning at the dock." She said softly.

"No." He said shaking his head. "How long did you know it was me, standing here in the dark?" He asked her.

She paused and then answered. "The moment you stepped outside."

"How?" He asked.

"You always open the door softly and close it gently behind you so no one hears it. The rest of your brothers open the door quickly and slam it after them. Also, it may be dark, but you move differently than any of your brothers. Your stride is more careful, more smooth and stealthy. I am an artist Leonardo. I know what the colour blue looks like in the dark, and your scent is different than any of your brothers."

"So why did you let me kiss you?" He asked.

"You were acting oddly and I didn't know you were going to kiss me until you did and then...I wanted to kiss you." She finished softly. "You can't leave Leonardo." She said her voice strengthening and containing a thread of her iron will.

"I can't stay." He whispered. "Raph doesn't need me, and I can't watch you two together, it hurts too much. I am happy for Raphael. But I suppose I can assuage my guilt of kissing you with acknowledging it was a kiss goodbye."

"You aren't leaving, because if you leave, I will never see you again, and I think if you vanish, my heart will break." She said softly.

"You love Raph Katherine. I can see that, and I would never take you away from him." He said softly as he brushed her cheek with his finger.

"Well I am glad my feelings play a part in your noble sacrifice. I told you there is a difference between being honourable and being stupid."

His traitorous heart jumped at her words even as he wildly shook his head back and forth. "I can't betray..."

Katherine shook her head. "I'm not asking you to. I'm asking you to stay, because I need you in my life, and so do your brothers." She said to him, her voice low and pleading. "Please."

His shoulders sagged in defeat. He couldn't leave her if she asked him to stay. He thought he would be strong enough to be able to walk away, but he had been fooling himself. He could no more walk away from her than he could fool her into believing he was even for a moment, his brother.

"Let's go inside Leonardo."

He nodded because he couldn't speak.

"Oh, I almost forgot." She said as she punched him in the shoulder.

"Ow!" He protested. She had punched him hard. "That is for trying to leave." She punched him again. He let out a hiss of pain. "And that is for pretending to be Raphael so you could kiss me. Don't think I didn't figure that one out."

He ducked his head in embarrassment. He stopped her before they got to the door. "What do we tell Raph?" He questioned. "How do we...what do we do?"

"We didn't do anything wrong." She said to him. He looked at her in shock. "You kissed me goodbye, as far as I am concerned it was done with the most innocent of intentions, therefore no fault."

"There was nothing innocent about my intentions." He said to her seriously.

"But you told me that you weren't trying to steal me from Raphael, are you saying that you lied?"

"No, I would never take you away from Raph." He protested.

"So you don't plan on stealing me away from your brother, and you were planning on leaving, how was that not innocent?"

"Because my feelings towards you aren't innocent Katherine. I am in love with you."

"And?" She inquired

"What do you mean and?"

"Goodbye kiss, innocent." She said simply.

"No." He shook his head.

"So you were planning more than just a goodbye kiss, maybe a little goodbye sex?" She asked bluntly.

He blushed as the image of her beneath him flashed through his mind. "Of course not!" He said in horror.

"So you don't want to have sex with me?" She asked him.

"Of course I do!" He said to her. He clamped his mouth shut in horror at his words. He hadn't meant to say them, but she had thrown him so completely off kilter that he didn't even know what he was saying anymore.

"Well then, there you go. In comparison to what you wanted to do, only kissing me doesn't seem so bad, does it?" She pointed out reasonably as she strode into the house.

He stared at the back door as if it would give him an idea of what had just happened because he sure as hell didn't know.

He rested his head against the cool wood of the screen door. Katherine knew he loved her, and yet she expected him to stay. It was obvious to him that she had strong feelings for him too, but he wasn't sure if her feelings were stronger for Raphael or himself, not that it mattered, but still.

He glanced towards where their truck was parked. He could walk away, just leave and put as much distance between Katherine and himself as possible. He opened the screen door and walked inside.

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><p><strong>Already working on the next chapter, and it is really going to be exciting! (Hope everyone enjoyed this chapter!) A few chapters more till the end!<strong>


	23. Chapter 23

**As always a big giant thank you to all of my reviewers! Mela, Kaaayyyttee, D'Fuentes, Chibiwolf33 and yesiamweird thank you guys so much for all of your support and encouragement!**

**Is everyone excited? I am! Please enjoy!**

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><p><span>Chapter 23<span>

**Katherine** slowly shifted herself out of Rogue's embrace. She padded silently out of her room and down to the kitchen.

She made sure that the truck was still parked by the garage, which it was, and dug into the freezer. She pulled out a tub of ice cream, went to the drawer and grabbed two spoons.

She walked into the living room. Michelangelo looked at her in surprise. He sat up and moved out of the way so she could sit beside him.

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><p><strong>Michelangelo<strong> turned down the volume on the TV where the movie _'The ones that came Before_' was playing. "A woman with a tub of ice cream, this can't be good." He said as she gave him a spoon. "So wha'd Raph do?" He asked curiously. Katherine remained silent. A heavy feeling settled in his stomach. "Wha'd Leo do?" He asked softly, wondering if his brother had told her of his plan to try to break her and Raphael up.

"He kissed me." She said softly.

He had taken a spoonful of ice cream and he paused with it halfway to his mouth. "You're kidding." He said in shock. "Leo'd never..." He began but looking into Katherine's eyes he knew she was telling him the truth. He took a bite of the ice cream. It was double chocolate brownie.

"Well I should say, he kissed me goodbye." She took a spoonful of ice cream.

"What do you mean goodbye? Leo go back to the lair?" He asked in confusion. He was sure his brother was in bed right now.

"Well I imagine he would have stopped there, gathered some supplies, and then vanished somewhere, anywhere, because being around Raphael and I is too painful for him. "

"What do you mean vanish?" He asked in confusion.

"You know Leonardo's strong sense of honour. By kissing me he betrayed Raphael, therefore, he was going to exile himself from his home and family."

"Crap." He said as he stood suddenly. They had to stop him.

"It's okay Michelangelo, I stopped him."

He slowly sat down and looked at her. "How?" He wondered. Because he could see no way of making what Leonardo did right, unless she broke things off with Raphael. "You broke up with Raph, didn't you? That is why you wanted the ice cream." He said looking at the tub of ice cream a sick feeling rolling around in his gut. He put down his spoon because he had lost his appetite.

Katherine sighed. "Not yet." She said softly.

"Katherine, don't do anything hasty just because Leo kissed you. You love Raph, I know you do. Leo screwed up, not you." He said fiercely.

"That isn't why Michelangelo." She said softly as she dug another spoon of ice cream from the tub.

"You're in love with Leo." He whispered.

"Yes." She acknowledged.

"Leo'll never be with you Katherine." Michelangelo said to her.

"I know." She replied softly."It took me a bit to figure out what Leonardo was doing. I couldn't understand why he was not happy with me being with Raphael, but I always got the feeling that he was blaming me for Raphael's memory not recovering sooner. And he is partially right. Raphael does not wish for his memory back for two reasons, the first being that he is afraid he won't like who he is, the second being that he believes that if he gets his memory back, he will leave me." She gave a wan smile. "Raphael has no memory, so he cannot allow himself to tell me he loves me because he doesn't know if he really does. Which means any relationship we have cannot move forward until he regains his memory. Which means I am stuck, not able to move forward, not able to move back. " She paused and then began talking again, her voice soft and steady. "When I figured this out I understood what Leonardo was doing. I know he was trying to break us up. I was furious at first, but I know Leonardo well enough to know that he was just looking out for Raphael, and me as well." She took another scoop of ice cream. "And so this brings me back to my dilemma of what to do about Raphael"

Michelangelo felt heartsick."Do you love Raph, would you be happy with him?" He asked her softly.

"I see. You are wondering, if I love Raphael more than Leonardo?" She contemplated his question. She sighed. "The problem is that although I know who Raphael is, and I understand how his mind works, memories play an important part in who you are as much as anything that is innate. For example, Donatello would still be a genius, even if he didn't remember anything about who he was, because it is innate. You would still laugh and joke, because it is who you are. Leonardo would still be bossy." She quirked a smile. "So I believe the man Raphael is, is really him, but I don't know the other quirks of his personality because he does not remember them. So I suppose the answer to your question would be, I don't know." She said softly.

Michelangelo swallowed. He contemplated Katherine. "Don't break up with Raph. I know you think you would be doing it for his own good, I get that, but you can't push Raph like that. He hates being manipulated. If you break up with him, it will just send him into a rage."

"I know Michelangelo, but what can I do?" She asked softly.

"Just be with him, and stay away from Leo." Michelangelo warned. "If Raph catches a hint that Leo kissed you, no matter the reason, Raph will kill Leo, and I mean literally.

Katherine took another bite of ice cream. "Do you truly think it is best Michelangelo?" She asked him.

"Lie to Raph, I don't care. Just don't let him know." He pleaded with her.

"Michelangelo, I would never lie to Raphael, and I do not believe that Raphael would kill him."

"Trust me, Raph thinks of you as his. And no one touches anything that belongs to Raph and lives to tell about it." He grumbled.

"So I pretend Leonardo never kissed me, and that my feelings for him don't exist and I don't break up with Raphael for his own good?" She asked him.

He looked at her in agony. "Yeah." He said simply because there was nothing else he could say.

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><p><strong>Michelangelo<strong> waited in the kitchen. He glanced at the clock which read 5:00am. He hadn't gone to bed yet. He was still buzzed on adrenalin he supposed. He was at a loss at what to do. Both of his brothers were in love with the same woman, and Katherine had feelings for both of them, but she was dating Raphael, so Leonardo shouldn't have interfered, but he had. Which had thrown Katherine into turmoil.

He put his head down on the table in frustration. Katherine had a point though. She really didn't know Raphael, like _really_ know him. The amnesiac version of Raphael was Raphael without all the hang-ups. Once he got his memory back would Raphael still love her, or did he just think he was in love with her? He had to admit, if he were Katherine, he would feel the same sort of insecurities.

He lifted his head from the table as Leonardo strode in. "Morning Leo." He said brightly as he pasted a smile on his face.

Leonardo looked at him in shock. "Mikey?" He asked. "What are you doing up so early."

"Well, before you eat, there is something I wanted to show you outside." His smile felt brittle, and Leonardo was still looking at him in confusion, but nodded.

"Okay, sure."Leonardo said to him.

"Great! Come on!" He said as he leapt from the table and strode out the back door.

They walked towards the lake. "What is so important that you got up so early to show me Mikey?" Leonardo asked him as they pushed through a bush and into a clearing.

"This should be far enough." Michelangelo said with a nod.

"Far enough for what Mikey? What's going on?" Leonardo asked in confusion.

He rounded on his brother so fast Leonardo didn't even see the fist that connected with his jaw. Leonardo was so surprised that he stumbled and fell to the ground.

"What the Hell Leo?" He shouted.

Leonardo rubbed his jaw but looked at him grimly. "Katherine told you." He said turning his head away in shame.

"With two spoons and a giant tub of ice cream. Do you have any idea what you did to her?" He asked his silent brother.

"I didn't plan it Mikey. I was leaving. You are right. Raph is good where he is, our enemies think he is dead, he can live the rest of his life here with Katherine, happy and free from danger." He said softly.

Leonardo's words left him momentarily stunned. Then he shook his head in denial. "So you think Raph wants us to give up on him, like we gave up on him being alive?" He ground out angrily.

"Of course not Mikey..." He began.

"You don't get to just dump him off into Katherine's lap and run away because it is convenient for you, because you don't want to fix what you broke." He growled.

Michelangelo felt fury course through him. He wondered if this is how Raphael felt all the time. "You kissed her Leo. You kissed your brother's girlfriend and if that wasn't bad enough, you made her fall in love with you."

Leonardo's eyes widened in shock. "She...she loves Raph, Mikey." He stammered.

"Yes, but Katherine isn't stupid Leo. She knows that the Raph she knows isn't the _real_ Raph. She's worried that Raph isn't going to love her if he remembers who he really is. And you couldn't just leave her alone, you just had to try to seduce her, and fall in love with her, and let her know that you loved her."

"I...I didn't know Mikey. I can't...she knows that I want her to be happy with Raph."

"You're an idiot! Stand up so I can hit you again!" He yelled at his brother. Leonardo stayed sitting so he launched himself at his brother knocking him back into the grass.

The rolled around as they scuffled.

"You know Katherine Leo. Under that calm, cool exterior, she is the most vulnerable person I have ever met. So you have to make a choice. Either you back way the hell off, or you go after her."

Leonardo looked at him in shock as he helped his brother off the ground. "Mikey you know I'd never..." He began.

"I know Leo, just like you would never do anything to hurt Raph, except that you tried to get Katherine to break his heart. Just like you would never lead her on, except that you did. Just like you would never kiss her, but did anyway because you love her. I know. But it seems to me, you are doing a lot of things you wouldn't normally do, which means Katherine is buried so deep in your heart that you aren't even thinking straight anymore." Michelangelo took a deep breath. "So get Raph to remember who he is, because I know you are the one who can do it. It's why he hates you so much, because it is you who he feels so much guilt towards. Unconsciously, Raph knows you are the one most likely to say or do something to trigger his memory."

"Mikey..." He began.

"I told Katherine to stay away from you, but I think I've changed my mind. You have to make Raph remember. If Raph decides he doesn't love her if he gets his memory back, then so be it, but at least he made his own choice.

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><p><strong>Leonardo's<strong> heart jumped as Katherine opened the back door for himself and Michelangelo.

She looked them both over and shook her head. "Michelangelo go get a shower, I'll get Leonardo some ice for his jaw." She said as she ordered him into a chair.

Michelangelo stomped upstairs.

Katherine pulled an icepack from the freezer and gave it to him. He placed it on his jaw. "I didn't think Michelangelo had it in him." Katherine grumbled as she shook her head.

"Surprised me too." He admitted to himself.

Raphael walked into the kitchen then. Leonardo started dropping the icepack to the floor.

"You are up early Rogue." Katherine observed.

Leonardo leaned down and picked up his icepack and placed it back on his jaw.

Raphael grunted. He was not in a good mood. Raphael pulled Katherine into him. Leonardo looked away because he felt both jealous and guilty, which was an uncomfortable feeling.

"What's for breakfast Kitten?" Raphael asked.

Katherine laughed. "I'm sorry, your arms aren't broken, you can make something yourself." She said with a smile to take away any sting in her words.

Raphael smiled and shrugged. "It was worth a try." He said as he rummaged around in the cupboards for a box of cereal.

He sat down next to him and began shovelling food into his mouth.

"So what happened to you?" Raphael asked him.

"Mikey and I had a...difference of opinion."

Raphael frowned but nodded. "Mikey doesn't usually fly off the handle. Wha'd you do to get him so stirred up?" Raphael questioned him.

Leonardo's eyes strayed to Katherine who was looking at him. "I did something I shouldn't have, and I wish I could regret what I did, but I don't." He said softly.

Raphael frowned.

"Rogue, can I ask you something, outside?" He inquired.

Raphael frowned and shrugged, stuffing one last bite of cereal into his mouth.

He threw the icepack on the table and followed his brother outside. Katherine followed on his heels.

He had hoped this would be private, but there was no use trying to get her back inside.

He swallowed as he looked at his brother who stood across from him, his arms folded across his chest, every line of his body showing mistrust.

He took a deep breath. He was about to do something incredibly stupid. And selfish, but mostly stupid. He only hoped that he knew what he was doing. Michelangelo and Donatello slowly opened the door and quietly stood behind Katherine.

"Do you love Katherine?" He asked.

Raphael's eyes narrowed, Katherine frowned but seemed to be watching them both intently.

"That ain't any of your business." Raphael growled as he glanced over his shoulder at Katherine.

"Because I do." He said softly.

Raphael's head whipped around, his eyes widened with shock. Donatello made a squeaking noise that was quickly silenced by Michelangelo's hand.

"What?" Raphael growled.

"You heard me Raph. I'm in love with Katherine." Leonardo said seriously.

A growl started low in Raphael's throat. Raphael's eyes narrowed his honey brown eyes turning dark with rage. His fists opened and closed at his sides.

"Don't you dare." Katherine said in a low angry voice.

Leonardo needed his brother to attack him. He wanted Raphael to attack him. But he needed to make sure that Katherine managed to stay out of it. He wouldn't be able to bear it if something happened to her. He just hoped that Katherine didn't become the object of Raphael's wrath.

"Katherine is _my_ girl." Raphael said angrily.

"For how much longer Raph? At least I have my memory. I'm not afraid to admit that I love her. How long do you think she's going to stick around when offered the alternative?"

His brother looked as if he had slapped him. His face paled. "Don't talk about her like that." Raphael hissed angrily.

Leonardo wasn't sure how much more he could goad Raphael. He should have attacked him by now, but Raphael seemed to be controlling himself.

His eyes flicked to Katherine who was being restrained by both Michelangelo and Donatello.

He was expecting a look of betrayal, instead she looked furious, though he wasn't sure if it was because of his words or because Michelangelo and Donatello weren't letting her go.

"I'm only telling you the truth. And after all, I'm the brother that let you go out to die all by yourself." Bitterness crept into his voice even though he hadn't meant it to. "So why should you be surprised that I would try to take your girlfriend too?" He barely got the last word out before Raphael launched himself at him.

He managed to dodge Raphael's anger filled punch. He laughed at his brother though the sound came out harsh and bitter. "You'll never beat me Raph if you don't learn to control your temper." He said the words, words that had been engrained into his memory, the words that he had said over two months ago when his brother had fought with him when he had wanted to leave the lair.

"I don't need you to tell me how to fight!" Raphael bellowed as he lashed out a quick snap kick.

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><p><strong>Katherine<strong> pulled angrily at Michelangelo and Donatello who both had an iron grip on each arm.

"You don't want to get in the middle of that Kitten." Michelangelo said softly.

She pulled harder. She didn't care. She wasn't going to stand there and watch the two men she loved beat each other into a messy pulp because of her.

Part of her was watching this with the realization that it was completely ridiculous. She stopped struggling because it was ridiculous. She frowned as she studied Leonardo. Her eyes narrowed. "You're an ass." She said softly as she realized he was trying to partially recreate the fight he and Rogue had had. She acknowledged that if anything could trigger Rogue's memory, this would be it. Her heart clenched in trepidation.

* * *

><p><strong>Rogue<strong> felt anger burn through him as a torrent of jealousy, fear, denial and self hatred rose up to choke him.

"You'll never beat me Raph if you don't learn to control your temper." His brother's words were harsh and familiar.

"I don't need you to tell me how to fight!" Rogue bellowed as he lashed out a quick snap kick. His brother dodged out of the way.

He couldn't stand it, that smug superior grin, the perfect form, the calmness that exuded total and complete control. Control that he had never possessed. Control that had made his older brother their father's favourite, and left him his father's greatest disappointment.

He felt tears prick his eyes as his fist connected with Leonardo's jaw, hard.

His brother stumbled back in a semi conscious daze. He went for weapons he did not have, and not finding them, lashed out a vicious kick to his brother's side. His brother curled inwards in response to the kick. Leonardo rolled, trying to get to his feet. Rage poured through him as he kicked his brother again, catching him in the shoulder this time.

He knelt down, and grabbed his brother by the front of his shirt, pulling him up. "You are such an asshole Leo!" He yelled at his brother angrily, his fist drawn back to level another fury filled blow to his brother's face. His brother had dared to try to take something that was his.

"That is enough!" Katherine's voice was like the sharp crack of a whip.

He looked down at his brother in shock. He let Leonardo fall to the ground as he slowly stood.

He closed his eyes and slowly turned to looked at Katherine in resignation. He had expected her to have run to his fallen brother, her tearstained face looking at him with a mixture of revulsion, accusation and horror. Instead her eyes were furious. Everything about her body posture exuded calm, collected, cool, detachment, but it was her eyes that gave her away. Her eyes blazed a bright green he had never seen before.

Leonardo tried to stand. He helped his brother up.

Katherine crossed her arms over her chest and closed her eyes. She opened them and looked at him. Her calm gaze looked at him, her anger vanishing as if it had never been. "It is nice to finally meet you, Raphael." She said softly.

He frowned at her. He didn't understand what she was...memory flooded through him. He remembered everything. He remembered the fight with Leonardo, he remembered his beating at the hands of the Purple Dragon goons, and he remembered the entirety of his life.

He felt as if he couldn't breathe. He looked at Katherine in horror. He swallowed as his mouth dried up and he couldn't even speak. He knew better, should have known better. There was a reason he never sought out human company, there was a reason that he was so bitter at the world. And that reason was that he knew no woman would be able to love him, and even if by some miracle one could, his life was too dangerous to drag one into.

He couldn't even count the number of times they had nearly lost April to their enemies. He hated watching Casey, his eyes wide with fear as April was dragged away, captured or hurt by their enemies. Broken bones and cuts heal, but the fear of losing a lover to the hands of death was too much for him to bear, and besides this, he knew who he was, he knew what he was, and he was a Monster.

He took one step back and then another. He needed to get away.

"Raph?" Leo asked him in concern,

Raphael shook his head wildly. "I...I...I need to go...I need to go home." He said as he turned and stumbled away.

The image of Katherine's calm understanding eyes, eyes that had always understood him better than he even understood himself, was seared into his mind.

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><p><strong>So what does everyone think? Thoughts? opinions? <strong>


	24. Chapter 24

**A big thank you to my lovely reviewers who are awesome! Thank you to Kaaayyytteee, Outasync, chibiwolf33 and D'Fuentes!**

**So warning: This chapter contains extreme angst and quasy bad language (blame Raph) LOL! I hope everyone enjoys!**

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><p><span>Chapter 24<span>

**Michelangelo** watched in dismay as Raphael turned and walked away as fast as he could. Leonardo gave Katherine a shattered look and followed close on his heels.

"Katherine." He began softly but he didn't know what to say. "Raph just needs some time." He said trying to say _something._

"No he doesn't Michelangelo. Raphael feared that he would leave me if he recovered his memories, and I suppose he was right." She turned and looked over her shoulder at him. "I guess we had better grab everyone's things since I don't think those two will be back anytime soon. We can load up your truck to avoid any awkwardness." She said as she walked back into the house.

"Donny." Michelangelo closed his eyes. "I'm glad that Raph got his memories back, I really am. But I feel so sick to my stomach right now that I'm close to losing my lunch."

"I know Mikey." Donatello said as he lay a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Is there anything we can do?" He asked softly, but already knowing the answer.

Donatello shook his head, the same feeling of helpless agony rolling through his brother's eyes that rolled through his own.

They packed up all of their things. It was a quick and painful process. Michelangelo felt himself nearly breaking down in tears every time he had to pack away a bit of Raphael or Leonardo's clothing. He had wondered if Raphael would want the clothes that Katherine had bought for him, but finally figured _screw it_ and packed them anyway.

Donatello had packed up the garage, Raphael's bike helmet, and left the half dismantled car sitting there.

Michelangelo loaded up the truck and waited for Leonardo and Raphael to appear. They both came from different directions meaning that although Leonardo had followed Raphael, they had separated soon after. They both stood, one on each side of the truck waiting for Donatello and himself.

Katherine was standing on the porch, arms crossed over her chest. She had an abstracted look in her eyes.

When he realized that neither Raphael or Leonardo was going to say anything to her, he and Donatello slowly made their way up the stairs.

She gave them both a hug and smiled at them. "Please take care of yourselves, and take care of your brothers for me." Her smile nearly faltered, but didn't.

"We will." Michelangelo managed to choke out as anger began replacing his misery. "Neither of those two idiots deserves you Kitten." He said to her tipping her chin up to look at him.

Katherine gave him a true smile then and she even managed to laugh. "Thank you Michelangelo. I love you too." She said softly. "Goodbye Donatello." She said turning to his brother.

Donatello placed something in her hand. It was her cell phone. "I've programmed Raph's cell into it. If you think you may ever want to talk to him again."

Katherine gave a half smile. "Thank you Donatello." She gently touched his face and gave him a slight, soft kiss on the cheek.

Donatello blushed red.

Michelangelo followed Donatello down the porch steps.

"What are you going to do now Kitten?" Michelangelo asked as he stopped on the bottom step, turning around and looking at her.

"Well, all of my work was submitted last week, so I am done here. I can do whatever I want. Stay, go back home, go somewhere else. I haven't decided yet." She smiled at him warmly. "Goodbye, Michelangelo." She turned but paused. "And if your brothers ever want to hear it, tell them, thank you." She said as she entered the house.

Michelangelo felt stunned. He wasn't sure why she was thanking the two bastards that had just shattered her heart into tiny little pieces.

Michelangelo angrily got into the driver's seat, slamming the door behind him.

"Not one word Mikey." Raphael growled.

Michelangelo clamped his mouth shut as he drove down Katherine's driveway. The silence in the truck was thick and oppressive. If he had a knife he would be able to cut he tension in the truck with it.

They drove in silence for an hour until he finally jerked the steering wheel hard, throwing Raphael and Leonardo, who were in the back, across to the opposite side of the truck.

He gripped the wheel in a white knuckled grasp as his brother's protested the sudden stop.

"What the Hell Mikey!" Raphael growled.

"We are talking about this now!" He yelled at his brothers.

"No we aren't." Raphael said angrily.

"You just shattered the heart of the most amazing woman I have ever met. A woman who I consider one of my best friends, so we are going to talk about this now!" He said trying to control his own temper.

"Mikey..." Leonardo began.

"No Leo, I don't even want to talk to you."

"You wonderin why Mikey, is that your problem!" Raphael asked, his voice filled with fury and something else.

"Yes Raph, I am wondering why we just blew out of Katherine's life like we couldn't get away fast enough."

"Fine, but I don't even want to hear her name after this, understand!" He yelled. Raphael then said in a low, barely audible whisper. "Ever."

Michelangelo didn't reply, just looked at his brother in the rear-view mirror.

"I was nearly beaten to death Mikey. If it wasn't for Katherine I would be a rotting turtle pancake out in the middle of a landfill somewhere. Our lives are too damn dangerous to be dragin' her into Mikey. I didn't even provoke the fight. I was just mindin' my own damn business, and they tried to kill me. The thought of our enemies gettin' a hold of her makes my heart clench in so much fear, I'm surprised the damn thing hasn't stopped beatin' yet." His voice broke. "And beside this," He continued, voice soft, bitterness replacing the pain. "What kind of life could she have with me?" His voice wavered. "She deserves so much more than a life full of constant danger, and hidin'. Hell, even if our lives were giant piles of slime covered shit, I still wouldn't deserve her. She's too damn good for me Mikey. Even I get that. She deserves some nice human guy who can give her a comfortable life, who will make her happy, who she can take home for thanksgiving dinner with the folks. She deserves to be able to have nice little human babies, watch them grow up, be able to grow old."

Raphael looked at him as if trying to make him understand. "Mikey our life expectancy is so damn short we'll be lucky to make it to 30, and I almost didn't. So that is why we are getting the hell out of her life as fast as we can!"

Anger still raged through Michelangelo. "So that's it Raph. You get to decide what's best for her, she doesn't have a choice?"

"No Mikey she doesn't get the choice because she has no idea the danger or violence out lives are filled with. We're freaks of nature Mikey, constantly hiding, fighting and bein' hunted. We don't get to drag innocents into that." Raphael said angrily.

"Raph..." Michelangelo began.

"What part of 'I DON"T DESERVE HER!' do you not understand Mike!" Raphael yelled, his voice hitching with enough pain that Michelangelo finally understood that his brother was still in love with her.

"You deserve her Raph." Michelangelo said softly.

"No I don't Mikey! I am a monster okay, do you understand. I am a F-ing Monster that doesn't deserve to be in the same damn room as her, let alone be with her!."

Michelangelo felt as if he had been slapped. "We aren't monsters Raph." He said quietly.

"No Mikey, you guys aren't. I am. How many people you killed Mikey, huh? How many thugs and goons and strung out gang members have you tracked down and killed because they dared to injure any member of our family? Huh Mikey?"

Michelangelo shook his head as bile climbed up his throat.

"I've killed a dozen at least, probably more. It wasn't even as if I killed them in the heat of battle. I hunted them. Tracked them down like the animals they were, and killed them. And you know what, I don't feel nothin'. They deserved it. So do you get it now Mikey? Do you finally understand?" Raphael said, his voice bitter, angry, and full of self-loathing,self hatred.

Michelangelo felt stunned. He had always known Raphael had kept him away from the dark, he just really hadn't understood how far in the dark Raphael lived. Donatello looked pale, and shocked, Leonardo looked grim and hurt, but he didn't look surprised.

"Fine." He said as he jammed the truck back into drive. They were silent all the way home.

* * *

><p><strong>Raphael<strong> was sitting on his bed, but looked up at Leonardo who appeared in his doorway. "Go away Leo, I don't want to talk to you." Raphael said as he threw a shuriken near Leonardo's head. It embedded itself into the soft wood of the frame.

Leonardo glared at the shuriken and turned his attention back to him. "Raph we have to talk."

"No we don't Leo. Go away." Her growled at his brother. Leonardo had been trying to talk to him for the past three days and he didn't want to hear anything his brother had to say. He didn't care if it had to do with the night of the beating, with...Her, with what he had finally admitted he had done, or to even about taking out the damn trash. He didn't want to hear his self righteous brother open his mouth. Period.

Leonardo's eyes narrowed he opened his mouth to speak but Raphael cut him off. "You were right. Okay Leo? Is shouldn't have gone out. Now get the Hell out of my doorway!"

His cell started to ring. He looked at the display. His heart leapt and his fingers shook. He wanted to hit the talk button so badly he burned with the need of it. He hit ignore.

"Piss off Leo! I don't want to talk to you!" Raphael roared.

"Raph..." Leonardo's voice broke with emotion.

"You want to talk Leo? Fine! Let's talk!" He said changing his mind. He slid off his bed and stood facing his brother. _His brother wanted him to hurt him, fine._ "You wanna talk about how you fell in love with _my_ girl? Or maybe how you tried to take her away from me? That what you want to talk about big b_rother?"_ His voice had gotten smooth and deadly. His brother looked at him like he had punched him. His brother's face crumpled with guilt, shame and self loathing.

Raphael closed his eyes at the sight. He should have felt joyous. His perfect big brother had finally done something that had broken his code of honour, and what he had done was something that was as reprehensible as it was nearly unforgivable.

"So what exactly did you do with her Leo?" He asked smoothly, voice dripping with anger that felt like acid upon his tongue.

Leonardo's guilt filled gaze shifted away from his own, remaining silent.

Rage poured and burned through him. He hadn't thought that his brother would actually have done anything with her, other than just being friendly. "What did you do Leo?" He asked, eyes narrowing a wave of black betrayal washing through him.

His brother still would not look at him. His bruised jaw visible in the dim light.

His eyes widened slightly. Michelangelo had punched Leonardo for a reason, a very good reason.

Raphael felt as if he couldn't breathe. "Did you touch her Leo?" His voice was almost a whisper as his brother winced.

Raphael swallowed as his mouth went dry. "You _touched_ her?" He managed to croak out.

Leonardo finally looked at him with dawning horror."No Raph, of course not! But...I kissed her." Leonardo finally whispered. "I was going to leave Raph. Leave you with Katherine and I was going to come home. Then...I kissed her and I knew I had to disappear. I betrayed you Raph and I am so, so sorry. I know I cannot ask your forgiveness, for what I did." Leonardo's voice broke. "I actually just came in here to say goodbye." Leonardo said not looking him in the eye.

Raphael narrowed his eyes as he studied his brother. Leonardo had kissed _his_ girl. He rolled this thought around in his head. It pissed him off on too many different levels to even think about at the moment, but...

"Do you love her Leo?" Raphael finally asked softly.

Leonardo gave a curt nod and turned to leave.

"Leo." He said, voice soft, the pain of his own shattered heart trying to leak through and break him. "How could you not love her?" He asked quietly. "Anyone who meets her wouldn't have a chance. Even Donny and Mikey are half in love with her. They were just smart enough not to fall all the way. It's why Mikey hasn't talked to me in 3 days." He paused as he gathered himself. "At least you weren't the hot-headed, egotistical, selfish, son of a bitch that broke her heart into tiny little pieces without even an explanation. You're just the asshole's brother." He found himself whispering.

"I can't excuse my actions Raph. The things I did, the things I said..." His brother shook his head with regret.

"Shut up Leo! You want punishment, that it? You want me to punish you for falling in love! Fine! Here's my punishment." Raphael growled. "You get to suffer the same damn thing I do. You get to feel like you heart is being torn to shreds. You get to suffer your stomach rolling around in your gut and tightly clenching in so much pain and sickness that it hurts to even think about eating. You get to suffer feeling like the damn sun just went out and plunged the world into absolute darkness and know that the sun is never going to shine again. You get to feel like you will never be happy again. Ever. So there Leo, that's your punishment."

"Raph..." His brother's voice broke and shattered.

"I get it Leo, okay." He whispered. "If any one of us deserved her, it would have been you. At least I know you would have treated her right. I would have just screwed it up eventually anyway. But I know you Leo. You promised yourself the same thing I did. You know we are supposed to die alone, without ever having anyone in our lives. You just handled it better than I did. You accepted it, I did too, but it didn't mean I liked it." He gave a bitter smile and continued when his brother remained silent. "She almost had you, didn't she Leo? She almost let you hope that maybe we didn't have to be alone, that somehow against all odds, with her, it could work." He shook his head. "We're good Leo, now go away."

Leonardo studied him for a moment before he nodded and turned. "You aren't a Monster Raph." His brother whispered softly. Raphael turned his head away from his brother's backward glance. "You think you are the only one who has hunted down and killed those responsible for bringing hurt and injury to our family?" He finished softly.

Raphael's eyes widened in shock.

"Still think I deserve her Raph?" He questioned turning away from him. Leonardo took a step out of his room and stopped. "You still need to eat."Leonardo said softly as he disappeared.

"You first Leo." Raphael said to the empty doorway as he sat down on the edge of his bed feeling emotionally drained. He lay down and rolled over, facing the wall.

He pulled out his cell phone and looked at the ID for his last call. Her name sprang up on the screen. He didn't know how she had gotten his number, it was probably either Donatello or Michelangelo, but there was a tiny part of him that was thankful. Somehow having her number was comforting. Like even if he never talked to her again, knowing that he _could _meant that she existed, that she wasn't just a ghost or a dream.

When her number had first popped up on his phone the day after they had left Her house, he had nearly dropped the phone. Even worse, he had almost answered it, just to hear her voice. But if he heard her voice he wouldn't be able to stop himself from wanting more. Wanting to see her, wanting to touch her, taste her, to just be with her.

He closed his eyes as he clutched his phone tightly in his fist. "You have too much honour." He whispered out loud. He supposed he was thankful that he couldn't allow himself to actually make love to her. It didn't mean he didn't push the limit. There had been a few times he had nearly thrown his scruples out the window and made love to her anyway. But he couldn't, because some part of him wanted her to be with _him_, not Rogue. And he knew that until Rogue was gone, he couldn't go that far.

At the same time he was regretting his choice because he knew that another woman would never come within 50 feet of him. He would never feel a woman's touch or kiss, or caress again, and this thought hurt him more than he thought he could ever hurt. But what hurt worse than this, was knowing that he didn't want anyone else to touch him, except Her.

* * *

><p><strong>Leonardo<strong> walked out of his brother's room and into his own, shutting the door softly behind him. He looked at the bag he had packed that was sitting in his bed. He closed his eyes, leaning his head against the cool wood of the door.

His brother forgave him. It was just too bad he couldn't forgive himself. _He could still leave._ He thought to himself and then shook off the idea.

If Katherine were here, she would be glaring at him and shaking her head over his idiocy. He even knew what she would say. '_If he doesn't blame you, then you can't feel guilty.' "_But I do feel guilty Katherine. But I feel even more guilty about still wanting you." He whispered out loud. He felt his heart clench in pain as he slid down his door as he curled up into a ball of misery.

He had walked away from her because he had no choice. He had already known he couldn't stay with her. No matter how much he loved her. Raphael was right, their lives were too dangerous, and besides this, Raphael had loved her first, and he had tried to take her for himself. He could try to pretend to himself that he had had his brother's best interests at heart, but in the end, he knew the truth. He had wanted her and had tried to take her. It was the only way he could explain his actions.

And she had known. He didn't know when she had figured it out, but he should have known that she_ would_ figure it out.

And yet...she had fallen in love with him anyway.

His heart spasmed again as he tried to breathe through the pain of his broken heart.

He missed her. It had only been three days since they had walked, no ran, out of her life, but he felt as if he had left an eternity ago. He felt as if it was not worth getting out of bed each day if she wasn't there to be in it.

Leonardo slowly stood. He was grieving. He knew that each day would get a little better. Or at least...he wiped the wet salty tears from his cheeks...that's what he would tell himself.

* * *

><p><strong>Okay everyone I have hit a rather large dilema. I actually don't have any idea who should end up with Katehrine. Leo? Raph? I have no clue! I like them both! So I would like the readers of this fic to give me thier opinions. Also Kitten's mom's suggestion of dating them both is also on the table. So thoughts? opinions?<strong>


	25. Chapter 25

**A big giant thank you to everyone who reviewed and gave their input. It was very much appreciated!=) So big thank yous to Amonraphoenix,moonie016,D'Fuentes, Mela, Jadedolphin,Outasync, Lost blonde,Chibiwolf33 and Cynical Fluffy V!**

**A/N this is a rather short chapter, just to kinda tide everyone over and to throw in a little twist.;) (well maybe not a twist...hitch...I don't know) **

**Just please read and enjoy!**

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 25<span>

**Michelangelo** sifted through today's paper. It had been just over a week since they had abruptly left Katherine's, and the weather outside matched his mood exactly. It was cold, miserable and raining. It was like the sky had decided that it couldn't contain it's wretchedness either.

He had ventured out after dark. He was tired of dealing with the oppressive misery that had invaded the lair. He had managed to scrounge up a paper and eventually decided that he had to eventually head back.

He sat at the kitchen table and began taking apart all of the newspaper sections. He really just wanted to read the comics, maybe the entertainment. He took out the sports section for Raphael, the business section for Donatello, and the Local and International news for Leonardo. He grabbed the Arts section to toss when the cover story caught his eye. All of his brothers walked into the kitchen as he took a sip of his orange juice. He spit out his orange juice in shock. He reread the article from the beginning.

"You okay Mikey?" Donatello asked as he began digging around for something to snack on.

He didn't answer as he read the article a third time.

"Those must be some pretty intense comics Mikey." Raphael said as he grabbed a glass of water. Michelangelo spared a glance at his brothers as his mind thought furiously. He vaguely realized that this was the first time in a over week that they had all been in the same room together.

"You know Mikey, this not talkin' to me thing is really startin' to piss me off." Raphael growled.

Michelangelo cleared his throat and began to read. "Eccentric billionaire Carin Wraith is bringing a little bit of human evolution to the Museum of Natural history this Fall with opening of the Modern Human and Neanderthal exhibit. Blah blah blah. His family is rumoured to have made it's money bootlegging in the early 30's, his grandfather turned their illegal wealth legitimate with a vastly successful shipping trade. Blah blah, blah. Carin Wraith is a leading archaeologist in his field of Human Evolution, guest speaker at Harvard, blah blah, blah..."

"Mikey what the hell are you reading?" Raphael asked in irritation.

"His niece and heir Katherine Brooks, daughter of model turned actress and fashion designer Sheila Wraith, was commissioned to paint the exhibit's main portraits. An early release of the exhibit's advertizing logo has created buzz in both the art as well the Archaeological and Anthropological communities. An aspiring mortuary archaeologist in her own right, many believe that she will make great strides in either field. I has been rumoured that the original paintings which will be put up for auction, could go for well over 1 million each, with the advertizing portrait to go for somewhere around 5 and 7 million."

He looked at his brothers, stunned silence prevailing in the room.

Everyone began talking at once trying to snach the paper from him. He pulled it away and studied the photo that had cought his attention. The photo was of one of the paintings they had seen Katherine painting. It had been awe inspiring. A Neanderthal and human woman were looking at each other. There was pain, love, knowledge, and the acceptance that though they had been with each other, they could not remain together because their worlds were too different. It didn't matter that they were not so different on the outside, but that it went deeper than a mere difference in species, it was a separation of worlds, of culture, religion, and values.

The first time Michelangelo had seen the finished painting he had nearly cried for the two people. It was like Romeo and Juliet, but somehow more real. He supposed it had struck a chord with him.

"You've got to be shittin' me." Raphael said as he was able to snatch the paper away and looked at the article. "So you're sayin Kitten is some rich heiress, and what, she was just slummin' it?" He asked angrily, as if somehow Katherine had left him rather than the other way around.

"Raph," Leonardo began.

"She lied to us Leo." He said angrily. "She's just some rich chick out on a nice little vacation, and we were a nice little distraction while she was here. She's probably sitting at home laughing her ass off right now that we thought, for even one moment, that we stood a chance with her. She's out of most guy's league let alone ours. We are so far out of her league she might as well have come from a different planet!"

"I should have googled her." Donatello mumbled while he rose, grabbing his laptop from the kitchen counter. "Wraith, Wraith, why does that name sound so familiar?" Donatello mumbled to himself. As he began furiously typing on the computer.

"She never lied to us Raph." Michelangelo said angrily as he grabbed the newspaper away from his brother's hands.

"Yes she did." Raphael replied angrily.

"What was she supposed to say Raph? 'Hi my name is Katherine Brooks artist, anthropologist, oh and by the way, I just happen to be an heiress?'"

"I remember this." Donatello said softly. "Sheila Wraith."

"Wasn't she, that model, actress chick from when we were kids?" Michelangelo asked. He knew the article said who Katherine's mother was, but it was just beginning to click for him now.

"Yes." Donatello said with a nod.

"Didn't Leo and Raph fight about some old magazine they found with a picture of her. And they had to hide it from Master Splinter?" Michelangelo asked with a sly grin.

Leonardo and Raphael blushed.

Michelangelo Laughed. "You had a crush on Kitten's mom!" Michelangelo lost his smile and frowned. "Wait, didn't she have some sort of meltdown or something? She kinda disappeared."

"She's a fashion designer now. She lives, for the most part, quietly in Canada now, but yes." Donatello said with a frown. They looked at Donatello who turned the screen around so they could all see. It was a newspaper article from 17 years ago. "We were 9, but I remember watching the news with Master Splinter. It was in the news for weeks." The Title read: Tragedy strikes Beloved Actress Sheila Wraith: Husband, Brother And Son Die In Horrifying Crash, 4 Year Old Daughter Only Survivor.' They were silent a few moments. "It was a media frenzy. Her mother had a breakdown and was in and out of the hospital. Katherine went to live with an uncle for a while. Though it looks like technically Carin Wraith is her great uncle. Her mother remarried, he's a cabinet maker, and Katherine has two step brothers."

"I don't get it, how is she an Heiress?" Raphael asked confused.

"Sheila Wraith and Katherine are Carin Wraiths only living blood relatives. When he dies all of his wealth goes to Katherine. It would go to Sheila, but she rumour has it that Carin Wraith changed his will so that Katherine gets everything. They say he became very fond of her and treated her like she was his own. She lived with him on and off for about 5 years."

Donatello brought up more and more tabloid and newspaper articles. "Katherine's managed to stay out of the press for the most part. Living in Canada helped, having a different last name helped as well."

One article read: The Ugly Duckling, Will She Become A Swan?

Raphael looked at the article and growled. "Bunch of bastards."

Leonardo frowned. "She always said she hated being judged, especially because of her looks. I don't think I really understood it until now." He said softly.

"Well Katherine was pretty quiet. Boring doesn't sell papers, but she made the press quite a bit when she was younger." Donatello said softly as he pulled up more articles. "She's been on numerous archaeological digs, sometimes not in the most friendly of countries. She was nearly kidnapped in Africa when she was on a dig with her uncle when she was 14. Her interpreter was killed, and they still aren't sure how she managed to escape. That was the last dig her uncle ever took her on. She probably had to fight to go on the digs she did in University."

"Sound like her life has been a cushy piece of cake Raph." Michelangelo said angrily.

Raphael's eyes widened in shock. He turned his head to the side as sadness welled up in his eyes. "I never thought that she knew." Raphael whispered. "She doesn't remember the crash." He said softly. "She told me that she wasn't going to tell me that everything was going to be fine because she didn't know if it would be. That she didn't know if or when my memories would come back. She doesn't remember her brother, her father, or her uncle. She told me that I shouldn't feel guilty about not mourning Master Splinter because I didn't remember him. And she told me she would never leave me alone and abandon me, because her mother had left and abandoned her." Raphael's voice wavered and cracked. "I know why she didn't want to go to the hospital after the car crash. She didn't want her mother to have to get a call telling her that she had been in a car accident."

"Do you regret leaving her Raph?" Michelangelo questioned softly.

"It was the right decision Mikey. Even more so now." He said in answer. Raphael's cell phone began to ring.

"Well then maybe you should grow a pair and tell her why you left her Raph." Michelangelo said angrily.

"She already knows Mikey." Raphael replied softly.

"I don't care. You owe it to her."

* * *

><p><strong>Raphael<strong> looked at his cell phone and pressed the talk button. He turned away from his brothers. He was going to have this conversation in private.

"Hello?" He said wretchedly. Pain leaking into his voice as he was about to stand.

Raphael felt himself pale as the voice crackled over the phone.

"Hun?" Raphael whispered in dread.

Raphael switched his phone to speaker. "What the Hell have you done to Katherine!" He yelled.

Hun's voice chuckled over the phone. "The better question would be: What haven't I done to her? It's a shorter list."

"Hun if you have hurt her in any way..." Raphael threatened.

"Listen to me you turtle freak, my patience is running very thin. You're little girlfriend here, has been reluctant to give up your whereabouts! I find this surprising since you left her completely unprotected. She is in a very secluded spot, very convenient for me, but I am tired of waiting. So I shall leave you with this thought. You would have saved her so much pain and suffering if you had have just picked up the phone seven days ago." Hun's voice said with malicious pleasure, as if he was very aware of how much his words would and did wound him.

"You lie! You don't have her!" Raphael yelled into the phone.

"Oh, she's here. She was so easy to find. We have photographs of her bike following your truck through the streets. We thought at first it was that other woman April O'Neil, but we figured out that she was someone new. Her bike was very easy to track. It was a custom job, only one ever made with a red leather seat. A little computer hacking and we got an address and a completely defenceless hostage. Come to your death turtle, and bring your brothers with you." The line went dead.

Raphael couldn't breathe. Too many emotions were roaring through him, but he was consumed by so much terror, he couldn't even think straight. He hadn't even been this terrified when he fell to what he had thought was going to be his death.

"Let's go, Donny!" Leonardo ordered. His voice coming from far away as if his broher was standing at the other end of a long tunnel.

I was his fault.

"On it Leo." Donatello said grimly.

He had left her alone and unprotected. He had been so focused on getting away from her to keep her safe, that he had never thougth about it already being too late.

Raphael realized that his brothers were moving and planning, but all he could do was sit there in a guilt ridden, terror filled lump, not even able to move.

He was hit hard across the face, knocking him off his chair.

He shook his head to clear it as Leonardo helped him up off the floor. "You need to focus Raph!" Leonardo yelled at him."Where the Hell is all that rage! Hun has the woman you love and you are just sitting there! Now snap the hell out of it!"

Raphael stared in shock at his brother's terror and guilt striken face. Leonardo was in love with Katherine as well, and he wasn't sitting around doing nothing. Leonardo clapped him on the back. "Let's go get Hun, save Katherine."

"She'll never forgive me Leo." Raphael said to his brother.

His brother remained silent a moment. "Or me." He agreed softly.

They shared a moment of understanding before they ran to the garage.

"Hurry up you two!" Donatello yelled form the cockpit of the Helicopter.

The knot in his shoulders lessened as he realized he wasn't going to have to drive for two hours. Because even the minutes it would take them to get there were still minitues too long.

He leapt in as his brother started the engine. He sat down and looked at his phone. He should have answered it. He should have answered her call when her name first popped up on the display. Regret and guilt ragged war within him.

"Don't give up Kitten, we're coming." He pleaded.

* * *

><p><strong>Leonardo<strong> was silent, every nerve of his body tense and ready for action. He looked over at Raphael who sat staring at his phone as if it had betrayed him somehow.

Leonardo had never seen his brother freeze like he had. Usually he was charging forward without even thinking. This time Raphael did stop and think, and Leonardo believed, it had almost broken him.

Raphael's cell began to ring. Raphael paused and with a shaky finger, answered.

"Hello freak." Huns voice said happily. "I'm sending you a little incentive." Hun's face appeared on the screen. "I just want you to be aware of what sort of situation you are dealing with." The screen shifted to video footage. Katherine was bound and gagged. She was kneeling on the floor of the garage, the junkler car having been moved. She was covered in dust, dirt and blood. Her clothing a was tattered mass of rags.

A large tub of water sat in front of her. "Tell us where them freaks hides out." A lanky blonde man ordered, his hand buried in Katherine's hair.

Katherine didn't answer.

"Maybe we should take the gag out." The man who was obviously holding the camera said to the man holding Katherine.

The lanky Dragon laughed. "But what's the fun in that?" He said as he rammed Katherine's head underwater. She struggled against him, but she could not get her head out of the tub.

The blonde Dragon laughed as he pulled her out after what felt like forever. She tried to take a breath but she was dunked into the tub again. The Dragon chuckled gleefully as Katherine struggled. He pulled her out. Katherine looked glassy eyed at the camera. She closed her eyes as he shoved her under again. This time she didn't struggle. The Dragon frowned. He finally pulled her back out as she slumped to the ground like a wet, broken, wax doll.

"Awwh, I think I broke her." The blonde Dragon chuckled.

"Get her breathing again you dumbass." The cameraman growled.

"Tch." He looked at her and kicked her had sending her onto her back. Katherine never moved, never flinched. He didn't check her pulse just looked down at her. "She's a gonner."

"Boss is going to be pissed. You weren't supposed to kill 'er." The cameraman said.

"You see." Hun's deadly voice purred over the phone. "It is so hard to get good help these days. We marked her grave with a nice cross and I will be kind enough to bury you four next to her when you are dead." The line went dead.

Leonardo had felt the blood drain from his face and the bile in his throat bubbled up thick and heavy. He couldn't get the image of her out of his head. She had looked at the camera and known that she was going to die.

Leonardo's soul and heart shattered into tiny pieces as he went numb.

They had killed her.

Because of them, the Purple Dragons had killed her.

I was his fault.

She had suffered and died because he had left her alone and unprotected, because his code of honour had told him he couldn't stay.

"It could be fake." Donatello said shakily as he hastily wiped the tears from his cheeks. "Don't you dare puke in here Mikey!" Donatello yelled, his voice breaking. "There was a time stamp. It said it was from a few hours ago, before they even got a hold of Raph. Plenty of time to have doctored the footage." Donatello paused and Leonardo heard his brother's voice from a distance. "She isn't dead until we see that she is actually dead!"

A black wave of guilt assaulted him. Leonardo felt as if he were standing on the brink of sanity and he knew that if she was dead, he would fall over that edge.

Leonardo pulled together his shattered soul, and mind. The need for revenge sparked to life and burned brightly within him. He had not wanted revenge for his brother's death, because he knew it would not bring his brother back. He also knew that his brother had been in the wrong place at the wrong time, and that the Dragons had taken advantage of their brother being alone and went for the chance to eliminate him. Katherine's death had been planned and deliberate. Hun wanted them broken and reckless.

He and Raphael shared a look of total understanding. If they had killed her, they would burn. Every single one of them. There would be no survivors. If she was still alive, they might let them live, but he doubted it.

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><p><strong>Cliffhanger! I apologize for leaving it at such a suspensful place! (evil, evil author)<strong>

**So thoughts? opinions?**


	26. Chapter 26

**Phew, long chapter, anyway hope everyone enjoys it =D**

**A big thank you again to moonie016, Outasync, Mela, Kaaayyytteee, D'Fuentes and Chibiwolf33 for your awesome reviews and support.**

**Sorry it took a bit to get up, but I blame lack of sleep and food, and too much nice weather outdoors! ;)**

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><p><span>Chapter 25<span>

The Purple Dragon wiped his sweat laden brow. He supposed he was grateful that Hun hadn't killed him for killing the girl, but he was not digging a 6 foot deep hole in the ground. He had gotten a foot or so down and was resting. He looked at where he had put the girl. He frowned. She was gone.

He stepped out of the hole, plunging his shovel into the mound of dirt beside him. "Dean. Not funny! Bring her back! I have to get 'er buried." He yelled into the dark of the forest.

The Purple Dragon's world went black.

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><p><strong>Raphael<strong> was already hanging out of the helicopter even before Donatello had a chance to land. He was holding onto a single thread of sanity at the moment and he felt as if that delicate thread was going to snap.

Donatello's words echoed within him and he had to hope and pray that they had somehow doctored the image of them killing Katherine, because the alternative was more than he could ever bear.

They landed right in the driveway. They were not going for stealthy. Hun would know they were there, but it didn't mean they were about to charge in and get themselves killed.

It was full dark, the kind that only seemed to be present in the country.

Raphael leapt from the chopper heading for the dense brush that surrounded the driveway. His brother's following close behind.

Shots were fired as they advanced. Using the thick brush for cover they made their way towards the house, and from there to the garage.

The Purple Dragons seemed to be staying out of sight, only the short bursts of gunfire giving away their hidden locations.

Raphael spared only a moment of thought for the Purple Dragon gang members. At the moment his sole focus was on finding Katherine, one way or the other.

Raphael broke cover and ran, his brother's following close on his heels.

Short bursts of gunfire kicked dirt up at their heels as the ran around the corner of the house.

Raphael stopped dead as he fell to his knees. A shovel had been driven into freshly turned earth. A branch had been tied to the shovel's wooden handle with a length of wet rope, creating a makeshift cross.

He heard yelling and more gunfire. Leonardo was trying to pull him up, but he had to see, had to know if Katherine's lifeless body lay within the hastily dug grave.

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><p><strong>Leonardo<strong> attempted to drag Raphael from his knees, even though his own knees were attempting to fail him. Shots were being fired at the front of the house and men had started to scream. Leonardo didn't know what was going on, but he knew that they had to move, no matter how hard it was for them.

Raphael strained against him. "I need to know Leo, I need to..."

Leonardo was lifted bodily off the ground. He struggled against the hand that was clamped around his throat cutting off his air, crushing his windpipe.

"Leo!" Raphael yelled in horror over his shoulder as he struggled to stand.

"You move and I snap his neck." Hun threatened as Leonardo felt his world begin to blacken. Six of Hun's men surrounded them, guns trained on them. Hun pulled his face nearer to his own. "I don't want you freaks dead...yet." He snarled. "I want you to suffer for the embarrassment you have caused me. News of your death by my gang gave me a certain amount of respect and authority over the territory I control, as well as a few I didn't. Imagine my humiliation when I learned that you were alive." Hun growled as he shook him.

Leonardo struggled against Hun's grip.

"Let him go!" Raphael growled.

Hun laughed. "The red masked one, the one who rides the bike. You are the one who should be been dead. Heh. Guess your brother can take your place." He said with a malicious smile as his grip tightened around his neck.

Leonardo kicked out, but his kick was ineffective. Hun chuckled cruelly. "I know all of your tricks, Turtle."

"You aren't going to live through this night Hun." Raphael growled. "I swear to you that. But I might just let you die quick. So do yourself a favour and let him go." Raphael threatened, his voice low and dangerous.

Leonardo frowned as he realized that he couldn't really hear Raphael very well anymore. His vision was going black and fuzzy around the edges.

Katherine had drown which was the same as suffocating. He wondered if this is how she felt? The need to draw breath but the inability to do so. Lungs burning and screaming, fighting to take in precious oxygen; Feeling the dark hand of Death trying to take you.

He looked at Hun. Blood slowly trickled down from a cut on his face.

Hun brought his free hand up and wiped the blood away, frowning in confusion. Hun hissed as blood began running down his arm.

Hun dropped him.

Leonardo fell to his knees and he took in a gasp of much needed air.

More and more cuts appeared on Hun's body as Hun's eyes widened in horror.

The night had gone eerily quiet. The rapid bursts of gunfire from the front of the house had ceased.

"Boss! The men, they're runnin!" A bloodied man stumbled out from the bush. Leonardo recognized him as the lanky blonde haired man who had killed Katherine."Dean went and buried her, but she's back! It's her ghost! I saw her boss. I saw her! Pale as Death, and she's takin' her revenge!" The man wailed as he was sliced across his jaw by an unseen force.

He screamed in terror as he clutched at his jaw. "There!" He said pointing a bloody finger towards a copse of trees.

There was a brief flash of pale silver.

"There she is again!" The man whimpered in terror as a woman stood bathed in moonlight.

Leonardo was unable to make out any definite details about the woman. She stood perfectly still. Her arm rose as if pointing, or dispensing accusation, and then she was gone, vanished into thin air. Hun screamed in agony as a deep laceration ripped open his leg.

"It isn't a ghost you idiots!" Hun yelled as his men began to panic, shooting randomly into the woods.

Leonardo punched a distracted Purple Dragon in the head. He went down without even a whimper. His brothers began attacking their enemy.

Leonardo drew his Katana blades. Metal hissed against the metal of his scabbards. His blades screamed for blood.

Leonardo turned quickly as he felt a heavy presence behind him. But he wasn't fast enough. The crack of a gunshot reverberated through the night.

Pain blazed through him, his brother's screams and the ringing of the gun shot reverberating around in his head. Blood fell hot and thick and warm down his chest, the splatter hitting him in the face.

Hun fell to his knees in shock. He clutched at his neck as a torrent of red flowed from between beefy fingers. Hun looked at him in surprise as he fell forward in a lifeless heap. There was a moment of shocked silence before the other Purple Dragons began to retreating.

Leonardo breathed through his pain. His upper arm felt as if it was on fire. He put it in a place where he could ignore it because it wasn't important.

Leonardo frantically searched the darkened forest for the figure of the woman, but she had vanished.

He began to run for the spot where he had glimpsed her, because she had to be real, she couldn't be a ghost.

Katherine had to be alive.

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><p><strong>Raphael<strong> took off after Leonardo. He knew his brother was hurt, but if Leonardo was still able to run, then he was fine. Katherine was more important at the moment. He knew that the woman had to be Katherine, somehow.

They carefully made their way to where the figure had stood, but he couldn't see anything. It was as if she had vanished. He closed his eyes and used his other senses. He could smell the faint scent of flowers. He and Leonardo walked around to the other side of a rather large oak tree.

Katherine was leaning against the tree, knees drawn up to her chest, bow clenched tightly in her hand. She was white, absolutely white. Her face, her arms, even her hair and clothing was covered with some sort of white powdery substance. Along the back of her arms, her neck and what he could see of her back, was covered in some sort of black powder. So that every time she turned, it would be like she had vanished into the darkness of the night.

Katherine raised her bow, deadly broadhead hunting arrow notched and ready to fire. Raphael put his palms up showing that he was unarmed. He didn't want her shooting him because he moved too fast. He wasn't sure what state of mind she was in.

She eased off the draw of the bow, put her head back against the tree, clenching her teeth together in pain or relief, her wasn't sure, but tears were silently trailing down leaving trails in her ashen face.

He moved towards her then.

A hard hand on his chest pushed him back. "You two need to back up and give her some room. Donny needs to look at her." Michelangelo said quietly, but with a thread of steel in his voice.

He looked over at Leonardo who was also being held back by Michelangelo.

Donatello knelt down in front of her. Her chest had begun to heave as if she was breathing too rapidly. "She's probably in some sort of shock, probably dehydrated, and I have no idea the kinds of injuries she's suffered. I need to get her inside. I can't see anything out here." Donatello said looking at them, his face serious as he obviously tried to be clinical, but was failing as his eyes brimmed with tears.

"Donny..." Leonardo whispered desperately.

Donatello closed his eyes and gave a sharp nod. He gently lifted her up. She gave a slight whimper of protest, but wrapped her arms around Donatello's neck.

They strode through the bush and towards the backdoor of Katherine's house.

They passed Hun on the way, Michelangelo stepped over him, Donatello walked past without even a glance.

Leonardo knelt down in front of Hun. "He dead?" He asked his brother as he paused. Leonardo nodded. "Good." He said as he strode towards the house.

Leonardo stood and followed.

Donatello took her to her bedroom. It was a disaster. Blankets and sheets littered the floor, graffiti covered the walls, done in anything that could be found.

Raphael wondered in the back of his mind what the rest of the house looked like. He had glanced at the kitchen as they made their way through the house and upstairs, and he had the impression that everything was a mess, but that is as far as he noticed anything. He was more concerned with Katherine, who had gone limp in Donatello's arms, though she still seemed to be conscious.

Michelangelo cleared away some debris that were on the bed as Donatello gently lay her down.

Donatello swore.

"Donny?" He asked in a shaky voice.

"I don't...we should call an ambulance." Donatello stammered out.

"We are in the middle of nowhere Donny, she needs you now." Leonardo said kindly but firmly with a slight tremor of fear in his voice.

Raphael reached out and gently touched her arm. She flinched as she looked at him wide-eyed.

"Katherine?" He asked her gently.

"Raph don't touch her." Donatello admonished. "We don't know if anything is broken or badly bruised." Donatello turned his attention to Katherine. "Katherine, I need you to look at me." Donatello said calmly. Her eyes darted to his. Donatello reached out and tried to touch her cheek, but she flinched back.

"I can't tell anything." Donatello said in frustration. "I can't tell the colour of her skin, or if her nails are blue. She's breathing erratically." He felt her pulse and swore. "Her pulse is weak, but too fast."

"L...Leo...Leonardo is he...?" Katherine's whispered as the question trailed off.

"Leo's good." Raphael said softly to her since she seemed aware, but not at the same time. The relief in her eyes was nearly tangible. She closed her eyes and went limp. "She must be exhausted." He said softly.

Donatello frowned. He placed his fingers over her pulse again. "We need to keep her warm and stable, but I need to get the charcoal off her first so I can assess her injuries. Her legs and arms aren't broken and she was up and walking around, but I am worried about internal injuries I can't see, like broken ribs and... It's my fault." Donatello's voice suddenly broke.

"Donny focus." Leonardo said softly.

"They found her because I insisted we take Raph home." A tear drifted down his cheek.

Raphael moved closer to Katherine standing by her head.

"Donny." Leonardo tired to get their brother to focus again. Donatello nodded and checked her pulse again.

"Her heart rate isn't slowing. Damn it. Her body is going into physical shock!" He looked at her wildly. Donatello swore. "Raph move!" He was pushed out of the way by his brother. "Unconscious is bad. I need to get her stabilized. " Raphael stepped back as he looked on helplessly. "You two need to help." Donatello said grimly. "Raph run a bath get some towels and cloths, wet them and bring them back in here. Mikey, go to the chopper, grab me the saline bags, first aid kit and the oxygen tank. " Donatello ordered as Michelangelo nodded and headed for the door. "Leo, we need to get her clothes off fast. She has to be injured, and I'm just not..." His voice trailed off and he looked at his arms. He was wearing a black hoodie, but the sleeves were a deeper black and damp.

Donatello shared a look with Leonardo who was already rolling her onto her front. "Raph, towels now!" Donatello ordered as Leonardo began slicing her soot covered clothing with his tanto.

He paused for a moment and nodded. He ran to the linen closet and grabbed an arm full of towels. He didn't like the idea of his brothers stripping Katherine naked, but it was an emergency.

He ran back into the room and stopped in horror as Leonardo had managed to peel her blood soaked shirt off her back. Her back was a mass of cuts, burns and bruises. Some bruises were deep purple, others the greenish yellow of a bruise nearly healed. The slashes were deep and long, he wasn't sure if they were done with a knife or something else. The burns were round and circular, like a burn you would get if someone pushed the lit end of a cigarette against the skin.

"Oh God." He said as the bile in his throat rose up to choke him.

"Raph, towels! We have to stop the bleeding!" Donatello yelled, which snapped him out of his immobility.

He threw his brother the towels as he ran into the bathroom. He turned on the taps in the bath drenching the towels in warm water. He ran back into the room. Michelangelo was in the room, cheeks wet with hastily wiped away tears as he looked on helplessly.

Katherine was laying on her back, a white sheet covering her.

Raphael rushed the towels to Donatello who was looking grim. Without looking at him Donatello grabbed a towel and began wiping away the white ash from her arm. He got and IV ready as Leonardo grabbed another towel from the pile in his hands. Leonardo began cleaning the ash from her face revealing a greenish yellow bruise on her cheek as well as a two inch long shallow cut along her cheek bone.

Leonardo finished quickly placing the oxygen mask over her face. It was at this moment that he wished that he knew more about medical emergencies, so that he wasn't just standing around helplessly while his brothers worked on her.

"Talk to me Donny." He said in a voice filled with fear and frustration.

"She's suffering from hypovolemic shock." He said as he inserted the IV needle into her arm. He hung the saline bag from one of two wall sconces that were above the headboard of the bed.

"Is that good or bad?" He asked as his heart began racing at the grim look his brother was giving him.

"If her heart rate doesn't come down, and her breathing doesn't slow, her body will begin to shut down and she will die." Donatello said with a hitch in his voice.

Leonardo knelt down beside the bed and gently took her hand in his. He lay his cheek against her hand. Raphael could see the tears that had run down his brother's cheeks. "I'm so sorry." Leonardo whispered softly.

Raphael's heart clenched in grief. Anger replaced his grief. He strode over to the bed and pushed Donatello out of the way. He glared down at Katherine. He looked at the oxygen mask that covered her face, her eyelashes impossibly dark against her pale cheeks. He leaned down. "You don't get to give up!" He growled at her. "You hear me Katherine! You don't get to survive a week of being at the mercy of the Purple Dragons, manage to escape and defeat them, kill Hun and save Leo's life only to die now! I won't let you!" His voice, that had begun as a roar, broke over the last words he spoke.

Katherine's chest rose and then fell, stilling. Raphael fell to his knees. "No." He said in a choked whisper.

Donatello pushed him out of the way placing his fingers on her throat. He closed his eyes.

Raphael's heart felt as if it had stopped beating.

"Good girl." Donatello said quietly, but with a smile.

"Donny...?" He asked carefully.

"She isn't out of the woods yet, but her breathing is better and her heart rate is going back to normal." Donatello said with eyes brimming with relieved tears.

Raphael felt his heart begin to beat again. He reached out and grabbed her hand in his own.

Donatello lost his smile and looked at them all seriously. "I did a very cursory look at all of her injuries. As far as I can tell, she doesn't appear to have any broken bones, a lot of bruises, a few scrapes, but it's her back that seems to have taken the brunt of it. Deep lacerations, bruising and superficial burns. Now that she's a little more stable I'll have to stitch her up. It's better that she is unconscious, but in case she wakes up I'll need one of you to hold her down." Donatello grabbed the first aid kit Michelangelo handed over to him.

"Thanks Mikey." Donatello said as he motioned for Raphael to move a little. Leonardo stood and gently rolled Katherine over.

Donatello stitched up Katherine's back. He lost count of how many stitches she had needed. There were three very long deep lacerations, and two shorter more shallow cuts. The smaller ones didn't need to be stitched, but they were bandaged. She never woke up.

"I need to take a look at your arm Leo." Donatello said gently.

Leonardo's eyes flicked to his brother. It was then Raphael noticed his brother's arm drenched in blood.

Leonardo gave a curt nod. He let go of Katherine's hand and pulled his dark blue shirt off.

The was a laceration that ran from mid bicep to the top of his shoulder. If the gun had gone off an inch more to the left, his brother would be dead.

Donatello examined Leonardo's wound. "You got lucky Leo." Donatello said softly.

"It wasn't luck Donny." Leonardo said softly. "She saved my life." Leonardo glanced over at Katherine, regret, guilt and love all warred within his brother's eyes.

Donatello began stitching Leonardo's arm up. Leonardo was pale by the time his brother was finished. "Get some rest Leo." Donatello ordered gently. Leonardo nodded.

Raphael settled himself close to Katherine, climbing on the bed and getting close enough that he was able to hold her hand more comfortably.

Leonardo slowly stood. "Hun's body needs to be disposed of." He said grimly.

Michelangelo smiled, but it was a smile filled with malicious intent. "Don't worry Leo, I have a plan. Donny help me load Hun into the chopper."

Donatello paused as if unsure if he should leave Katherine. "Can you do any more for her right now Donny?" Leonardo asked softly. Donatello shook his head. "Then go help Mikey." He said turning his attention to back to Katherine. "We'll call if anything changes. Then you and Mikey get some rest as well." Donatello nodded and followed Michelangelo out.

Leonardo sat down on the edge of the bed, then lay down. He curled around Katherine's side and buried his face in her neck.

"Leo, what the hell are you doing?" Raphael growled as he partially sat up and glared at his older brother.

"I'm getting some rest and letting her know that I'm here. She might not be conscious, but maybe she can feel that I'm near, and smell that I'm here. She did the same thing for me once. I thought it was a dream, but I know it wasn't."

"Leo go rest somewhere...wait what do you mean she did the same thing for you?" Raphael asked confused.

Leonardo opened an eye and looked at him. "It's not important Raph. Katherine is the one who is important. Making sure that she recovers is what is important." He said softly closing his eye.

"She doesn't need you Leo. I got her." He growled.

"Go to sleep Raph." Leonardo mumbled.

"Go sleep somewhere else Leo." He was beginning to lose patience with his brother.

Leonardo's eyes snapped open as he sat up, instantly alert. He frowned and after a moment Raphael realized he could hear the chopper starting up.

Leonardo lay back down, burying his face further into her neck.

"Do I need to kick your ass outta here Leo?" Raphael yelled as loudly as he dared.

"You don't have the right to kick me out Raph." Leonardo replied calmly.

Fury ignited within him. "She's my girl Leo..." He began but his brother cut him off.

"No she isn't Raph. You broke up with her, remember?" Leonardo pointed out.

Raphael clenched his teeth together tightly as his teeth began to grind together.

"I made a mistake." He managed to force the words out.

Leonardo looked at him. "So did I." Leonardo growled. "I left her because my honour told me I couldn't stay. And because of my honour, she was tortured and nearly killed. We didn't save her, she saved herself. She escaped, but she didn't even run because she knew we were going to be in danger. She came back and saved us, which endangered her life even further. I love her Raph, and I am never leaving her side again, unless she wishes it." He vowed to him.

Raphael was speechless. He didn't even know how to reply to his brother's words. He opened his mouth, but Leonardo cut him off even before he knew what he was going to say.

"If she chooses you Raph, then fine, I will walk away. But I will pursue her, and if she chooses me, I will have her."

His brother's words left him stunned. He felt himself growling low in his throat.

Donatello entered the room. He paused at the door and then continued on into the room shaking his head slightly. He checked Katherine's pulse and removed the oxygen mask. He looked at them both seriously as he pulled up a chair. He sat down putting his elbows on his knees as he clenched his hands together, letting his hands fall between his legs. "I need you two to know two things." He said softly. "Firstly, physically she will most likely make a full recovery. But I don't know what state of mind she will be in when she wakes up. She was obviously tortured, and I don't know how she will cope with the after effects of that sort of psychological trauma. Which means she doesn't need you two hot-heads fighting over her." He glared at them both. "Secondly..." He paused as if whatever he was about to bring up was even more unpleasant. "They may have done more things to her than we can actually see." He said softly.

Leonardo and himself exchanged a grim glance. She was a woman held captive by a bunch of men. He could see where his brother was going. His stomach churned as he fought down the need to puke.

"I'm going to hunt down every last one of those bastards and make them pay." He whispered shakily under his breath.

"No you aren't Raph." Leonardo said softly as he lay back down and buried his face in her neck and hair again.

"So you say you love her but you won't even go after the bastards that did this to her?" He asked voice breaking with emotion.

"No. But you aren't doing this alone. WE are all going to wipe them out." Leonardo growled

He looked at Donatello who looked back at him steadily. "They are all dead." Donatello whispered as he stood. "Mikey's plan is to dump Hun's body in the Dumpster over on 73rd, or at least as close to the dumpster as he can manage with just tipping the chopper enough that Hun's body rolls out the side." Donatello walked over to the couch and lay down. "He'll be back in a bit. Now get some rest." Donatello ordered softly.

Raphael blew out a frustrated breath and tucked himself closer to Katherine. He just hoped that she would wake up soon, and when she did, he would do all in his power to help her in any way he could, even if it meant walking away from her because she blamed him for what happened to her.

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><p><strong>Thoughts? opinions?<strong>


	27. Chapter 27

**A big giant thank you to everyone who has read and enjoyed this story. Also a big thans to Kaaayyytteee, moonie016, D'Fuentes, Mela989898, Chibiwolf33, Outasync and Rocky181 for your awesome reviews!**

**A/N this will probably be the second last chapter. ( I think) It is kinda long, but I had to fit a lot of stuff into it.**

**Please enjoy=)**

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><p><span>Chapter 27<span>

**Leonardo** closed his eyes more tightly. There was an ever-present, persistent, ringing that was making his head pound. He reached over and answered the object of his ire.

"H...ello?" He mumbled into the phone.

"Leonardo?" A woman's voice answered as if she was unsure.

"Hmmhmm." He said sleepily. He couldn't quite figure out why he was so tired. His eyes flashed open as he looked around him. He was plastered against Katherine. He searched her face, momentarily forgetting the phone in his hand.

Katherine's colour was better, still a little too pale, with dark blue circles beneath her eyes, but she did look better.

She hadn't woken up with the ringing of the phone though, which meant that she was either still unconscious or sleeping very deeply.

He slowly sat up and winced as his upper arm blazed with pain. He looked around.

Raphael was buried against Katherine's other side, still soundly sleeping. Michelangelo was somehow sleeping partially sprawled on Katherine's legs, his head resting on her hip closest to Raphael. Michelangelo was snoring softly.

Donatello was in a chair that had been pulled up close to the bed. He was half sprawled on the bed, his head resting against one of Katherine's legs.

"I've been trying to get a hold of Katherine for 4 days now. Where have you guys been? Can I talk to Katherine?" Katherine's mother asked worriedly. Though he supposed he now knew that her mother's name was Sheila.

"She's still sleeping." He told her truthfully.

"What time is it there?" She asked. "Did I wake you up?" She asked in confusion.

He looked at the clock which read 10:00am. "Late night." He mumbled.

"Where's Raphael?" She asked curiously.

"Here. Sleeping." He said without thinking about what he was saying.

She was silent a moment. He slapped himself on the forehead for what he had said. "Okay. Get Katherine to give me a call when she wakes up." She said.

"Okay." He said as he gave another glance towards Katherine's sleeping face. "I'll try."

"Oh, and Leonardo, you had better be treating my girl right." She warned.

"I don't know if I have, but I want to." He replied softly.

"You had better be. I don't want to find out that my daughter has taken a selfish lover as a boyfriend." Leonardo's cheeks warmed. "Get her to call me, I have a surprise for her." Her mother said happily as she hung up the phone.

He really had to stop answering the phone. He put it back on the nightstand and nudged Donatello awake.

Donatello looked at him sleepily, as if he too were having a problem waking up. Though knowing his brother, he had most likely been up most of the night.

"How is she Donny?" Leonardo asked.

Donatello stood and cracked his back. He leaned over and checked her pulse and her breathing. "Breathing and pulse are normal. We just have to wait until she wakes up Leo." He said softly.

Leonardo nodded. "Go back to sleep Donny." He said as he too lay back down. He closed his eyes. He heard Donatello lay down on the couch and toss a few times.

He heard Donatello stand and walk back over to the bed. He felt the mattress shift as Donatello curled up much like Michelangelo had. He glanced down at his brother who had laid his head on Katherine's other hip.

He realized then that all of them had missed and feared for her, because she had become more than just Raphael's girlfriend, she had become family. But she had a family of her own.

He tried and failed to see how they could ever actually _be_ with her. Her mother already knew about them, which meant that one day she would want to meet Katherine's boyfriend and they couldn't. But he had made a vow that he would remain by her side and he would. But Raphael had been right. Somehow, with Katherine, he felt as if it _could _work.

He closed his eyes and drifted back to sleep.

* * *

><p><strong>Katherine's<strong> world blazed with pain. She wasn't sure where she was or what was going on. She had the impression that somehow Raphael, Leonardo, Michelangelo and Donatello were near her, but she wasn't sure if she was dreaming or if it was reality. She was no longer sure if she were alive or dead, if the Purple Dragons still were torturing her, or if she had finally managed to escape.

She whimpered, or she supposed that she had because some sort of sound was issued from her lips.

She hurt, everything hurt, especially her back so she must still be alive. She tried to move because she was laying on a bed of burning hot needles, or at least, that's what it felt like.

"Calm down Katherine, it's okay, you're safe." Leonardo's soothing voice broke through the pain laced fog.

She whimpered again. It felt as if her cheeks were wet. A choked sob came from her lips.

"You did good Kitten. You beat them." Raphael's voice was gentle, yet fierce at the same time.

Another broken sob escaped her. She shattered. She couldn't contain any of her built up emotions anymore. She had tried to be strong, had tried to be so strong, but in the end she was weak, because she was curled into a little ball of misery and agony, crying her eyes out, and unable to stop the flow of tears because there were too many emotions tumbling around in her heart and in her head.

She had to stop crying because she hated it. Crying made her feel weak and out of control, and she hated so badly to be out of control.

She felt arms trying to roll her over, trying to pull her out of her ball. "Katherine. Katherine, I know you hurt right now, but you can't curl up like this, you'll pop your stitches." Donatello's calm, even voice managed to break through her wretchedness.

"Shower." She managed to croak out.

"I don't think..." Donatello began.

She needed a shower. She clung to this thought because it was something that was normal, rational. She wanted the visual. She needed both the visual as well as the act itself to return to her some sort of clarity of focus.

"Kitten, your back's a mess, you need to just rest." Raphael's voice insisted.

She shook her head as she moved again. Agony ripped and tore through her, but she didn't care.

"Donny, what's she doing?" Michelangelo asked in a worried voice.

"Does she have a fever?" Leonardo's voice asked.

She felt a cool hand against her forehead. His hand moved to her cheek. "She doesn't feel overly warm." Donatello said in confusion.

"Is there any reason she can't have a shower Donny?" Leonardo asked.

"She's had the stitches in for over 24 hours, so I suppose not. But I don't really think..." Donatello began.

"If Kitten wants a shower, then she'll have a shower." Raphael growled.

She felt herself being lifted up. She almost managed to silence her scream... almost. She clutched at whoever held her. She breathed in Raphael's distinctive, woodsy, musky scent.

She felt herself being gently carried, the click of a light and the sound of a shower being turned on.

"It's okay Kitten. I've got you." Raphael's voice was gentle.

"I've got some shampoo, soap and some towels." Michelangelo's voice drifted close to her.

"Just put them over there Mikey." Leonardo said softly.

"Easy Raph." Donatello cautioned.

The warm water hit her in the face and her immediate response was to flinch back, she felt as if she couldn't breathe. She thrashed, but was held firmly.

"I gotcha Kitten. " Raphael's voice was gentle.

_She wasn't drowning._ _She wasn't having her head pushed into a tub of frigid water._ She repeated this in her head because the voices she heard around her had to be real, but she was still too frightened to open her eyes in case she was dreaming. "Leonardo?" She whispered because she had heard his voice.

"I'm here Katherine." His voice was gentle and yet contained a rough edge to it.

"Are you okay?" She asked. She had a vague remembrance of asking the question before, but it was fuzzy. She wasn't sure if she had actually asked it, or if she had dreamt she had.

"Yes, I'm okay. You save my life, you saved all of our lives." He replied softly.

She reached out because she needed to touch him, to make sure he was real. She reached out her hand. A hand slid into her own, but a hand wasn't enough, she wanted to hold him, be able to smell him. She pulled him closer. She managed to drape her arm around the back of his neck snugly fitting it between his back and his carapace. She felt Raphael gently set her down so that she was mostly standing by herself. Raphael attempted to pull away, but she held him. She buried her face into Leonardo's neck smelling his scent of musk and spring that she associated with him. He was alive. "Did I kill him?" She questioned softly.

There was a pause before Raphael finally answered. "Yeah Kitten, he's dead. You don't have to worry about him anymore."

"I didn't want to kill him." She said softly. "But he was going to kill Leonardo."

"He would have killed you Katherine. He tried to kill you." Leonardo pointed out gently.

"After what that bastard did to you, if he weren't dead already, I would make him suffer." Raphael said vehemently. "And the rest of those Dragons are dead. Every single last one of them." He promised.

She opened her eyes then. She was looking down at her feet. They were black with soot and dirt. She hadn't had any shoes on, so she had been running around barefoot.

_She had managed to convince the Dragon who had been trying to drown her that she was dead by no longer struggling, and by not flinching when he kicked her. They had hauled her outside and ordered the guy, Frank, to bury her. So she had waited for her chance, working at the wet ropes enough that she was finally able to get her hands free. Luckily for her, they hadn't bound her feet together._

_Frank began to dig, and was finally distracted enough that she was able to slip away. She hid and managed to bash Frank in the head with his own shovel. She had wondered if she had killed him, but she hadn't, and as tempting as it was to do so, and bury his body in the grave meant for her, she had resisted the urge because she hadn't wanted to be like him._

_She dragged Frank into the bush, hiding his unconscious body. She then shovelled the dirt back in the hole and made a makeshift cross from the ropes that had bound her. She remembered Frank had mumbled something about having to mark her grave to make a 'statement'. That, and it would look as if Frank had finished his job. Then she had waited and planned. _

_She had found her bow which was near the back door of the house. She grabbed her hunting arrows which were in an old shed along with her archery targets, and covered herself with soot and ash from the fire pit. Then she had waited some more until Raphael and his brothers had arrived. She had taken out as many of the shooters as she could as Raphael and Leonardo led the charge running for the back of the house. She hadn't been trying to kill, just injure._

She watched the darkened water swirl around and go down the drain. Two sets of two toed, green feet were standing next to hers. They were both wearing jeans which were getting wet.

She breathed in slowly and let go of all of her terror, her panic, and her misery. Her tears fell silently mixing in with the warm water of the shower. She imagined that every indignity, every slight, every cruel word and action flowed down the drain like the soot that washed away from her body. It didn't really, it was all still there, still fresh in her memory, but it would get better. She would take it one day at a time, and each day it would fade ever so little. It would always be there, but one day, she would be able to look back and know that she survived, and not just survived. She had survived and won.

"How many mutant turtles does it take to wash one human woman?" Michelangelo's voice asked softly, but with a hint of playfulness in his voice.

"Mikey!" Leonardo hissed.

She smiled. "Four." She said softly. "Two to hold the human upright, one to wash, the other to supervise and make sure no soap gets into the wounds."

Michelangelo was suddenly kneeling in front of her. He was looking up at her, his face set into serious lines. Water sprayed and rolled off him as he searched her face. He gently hugged her, his arms going around her legs, his cheek resting against her stomach.

"I'm sorry the punch line wasn't very funny." She whispered to him. "I missed you too Michelangelo." She said softly.

She closed her eyes and she felt as if she were falling. Maybe she was floating. She wasn't sure, but she was pretty sure that somehow she was washed, dried and tucked back into bed. And was surrounded by bodies that were cool to the touch.

She finally made herself look at Raphael and Leonardo. Both were looking down at her, both pressed into her side. Michelangelo and Donatello were pressed against her legs. She found herself speaking softly, half asleep, but her voice was even.

"I was in Tanzania, Africa when my interpreter and I were kidnapped." She said softly. She felt both Leonardo and Raphael tense. "He told me to call him Joe. I don't know what his real name was. But he was taken with me. I know that my kidnappers were desperate, and an interpreter was rather useless, just one more body to try to keep alive. We managed to escape after 3 days. Joe was shot. He blocked me with his body. He landed on top of me. His blood spilled around us and I played dead. I was lucky tjat some local police came upon us. They believed it was an attempted abduction, I never told them otherwise." She paused as she tried to gather her thoughts. "I was so angry and scared and I felt as if I would never be safe again. But I couldn't live like that, because Joe had died for me, so I had to live for him. Death is easy, living is hard."

She tilted her head then and looked at Leonardo. His face was a mask of controlled emotion, but under the surface was a rage filled storm that was threatening to break. She glanced at Raphael next, his face was filled with fury and anguish.

"Michelangelo, how many humans does it take to rescue 4 mutant turtles from the bad guys?" She asked quietly.

Michelangelo sat up slightly. Her question did not elicit the smile she was hoping for. "Only one Kitten." He said seriously.

"Only one." She said with a nod. She closed her eyes. "That means I win." She said with a smile.

"That's a game I never wanted you to win Katherine." Leonardo said wretchedly.

"So is this the part where I get to hear everyone whine and cry about how it is all your fault?" She asked in a tired voice. She was exhausted and her back was blazing.

"Kitten..." Raphael began.

But she never heard what he was going to say.

* * *

><p><strong>Raphael<strong> looked down at Katherine and his heart clenched in grief, worry, guilt, and too many other emotions to even separate out. He glanced down at Donatello.

"She's a strong woman Raph." Donatello said softly. "I'm not saying that she's fine or that everything will be as it was, but she seems to have coping mechanisms that are already in place that she is using to help her deal with what happened." He replied.

"Great." He said angrily. "Damn it Katherine, why the hell didn't you trust me enough to tell me who you were, and what had happened to you?" He said to her, even though he knew she couldn't hear him.

"And what if she had Raph?" Michelangelo asked angrily. "What then? You think you would have stayed? You still would have left. Knowing that she had already endured something so traumatic, would have made you only run that much faster."

"I made a mistake Mikey!" he said defensively.

"That's one hell of a mistake Raph." Michelangelo growled.

"What do you want me to do Mike? Huh? Go back in time a fix it? Well that ain't going to happen." Raphael hissed angrily.

"If you two are going to lay there and fight, leave, because Katherine needs to rest and you two are going to wake her up." Donatello said with irritation.

Raphael let out a growl but settled back down.

He closed his eyes and buried himself into Katherine's side. In the shower when she had reached out for Leonardo, he had felt as if his heart was going to shatter all over again. But she hadn't let him go. She had held him close, not willing to let him pull away, and he wondered if this meant that she would be able to forgive him for failing her, and for leaving her. It also gave him hope that maybe, she still loved him.

* * *

><p><strong>Katherine<strong> struggled to sit up.

"You need to be more careful." Donatello admonished.

"My stitches are out and I am tired of playing invalid. It's been 7 days and I am getting out of bed. I am sick and tired of everyone treating me like I am broken." She said in irritation.

Donatello remained silent.

"Fine. I'm broken. Doesn't mean I am mentally unstable or that I am going to break. Now are you going to help me get out of this bed, get dressed, and get me downstairs so that I can have a little chat with your two brothers who seem to be avoiding me like the plague, or not?"

"They aren't avoiding you Katherine." Donatello protested.

"Yes, they are." She replied. "They are both so damn guilt ridden that they can't even look me in the eye, and I am sick of it! Sure I have nightmares, who wouldn't? And if I could stop the nightmares I would, but I can't. So they should just get over it, but since that doesn't seem to be happening, I have to fix it." She growled.

Donatello didn't move to help her.

"Fine." She said shifting out of bed. Her back still blazed with pain if she shifted and moved it too much, and she wasn't wearing a shirt, but she had her jammie pants on, so if she had to have a conversation being half naked, at this point, she didn't care. It wasn't as if they hadn't already all seen her naked.

"Kath..." Donatello began but she glared at him. He shut up, shoulders sagging in defeat. He rummaged in her closet and brought out a short, thin, light blue robe. He helped her to put it on.

She managed to make it down the stairs by herself. She could hear voices coming from the kitchen. It was still early morning so they were probably just having breakfast.

All conversation stopped as she entered the room.

"Kitten?" Raphael said in shock. "You should still be in bed." He said as he stood.

"I'm tired of being in bed." She said. "So when are you leaving?" She asked bluntly, catching them all completely off guard. Michelangelo dropped his box of cereal to the ground where it tipped over and spilled.

They all looked at her in shock. They exchanged glances and looked back at her.

"Kath..." Leonardo began.

"I asked when you were leaving?" She repeated in a hard voice. "Leonardo, wasn't it you who told me your lives were dangerous, and that I may be in danger because of you?"

Leonardo gave a quick nod.

"So then I repeat, when are you leaving?"

The exchanged another glance between them. Leonardo stood. "Our lives _are_ dangerous. Because of us..." Leonardo's voice trailed off.

"Fine. Then get out." She said angrily.

Raphael stood, placing his hands flat on the table as if he needed to either hold himself up, or if he didn't put them there, he would break something. "We'll go Kitten, if you want us..."

"I'm through playing nice." She said trying to control her rage. She had never felt as angry as she did at this moment.

Raphael's eyes widened in shock. His eyes flicked over her shoulder, and she knew Donatello was standing behind her. They all probably thought she had lost it. Maybe she had, but she was tired of the careful glances, the soft voices huddled in quiet corners, and the distance they had placed between her and them.

"I don't want any of you here if the only reason you are staying is because of some sort of guilt fuelled sense of obligation." She said to all of them.

"We're not here..." Raphael began,

"And I am tired of the pity party that all of you seem to be having for yourselves." She continued cutting him off. "So make a choice, stop blaming yourselves for something a madman did, or leave."

"Katherine, the only reason Hun found you was because..." Raphael began.

"I knew you." She said finishing his sentance. "I know." She said shaking her head. "Is that what you want? Do you want me to blame you?" She asked angrily.

"Yes," Raphael said angrily. "Damn it Katherine, yes! I want you to blame me, because it's my fault!"

"Then get out Raph. If you are really to blame, then get out. You did it once, you can do it again." Raphael reacted as if he had been slapped. His head snapped back and his eyes widened. His hands clenched together, his knuckles turning white.

Her gaze slid to Leonardo. "You too Leo. You walked away, walk away again." Leonardo paled.

"Mike, Don, are you two going to stand there all day or are you going to start loading up the truck?" She asked them, resisting the urge to cross her arms over her chest, because to do so would pull on her back too much.

The silence in the kitchen was deafening as all eyes were turned on her, Donatello having walked around to stand by Michelangelo.

The phone rang beside her. She picked it up angrily. "Hello?" She asked trying, but failing, to calm the anger that leaked into her voice.

"Katherine, are you okay?" Her mother asked. She had talked to her mother earlier in the week, (Her mother was very proud of her getting the big article in the paper), but she didn't feel like dealing with her mom right now.

"No. I'm really, really pissed off. I'll call you back." She said as she hung up the phone.

"I don't see you moving." She said in irritation. "Fine. If you stay, then stop acting like this is your fault. And quit treating me like you think I will shatter if you touch me, or even mention what happened." With that she turned and left the room.

* * *

><p><strong>Michelangelo<strong> watched Katherine as she walked away. "Remember when Master Splinter would always only call us by our full names when we were in really big trouble?" Michelangelo asked them.

His brothers nodded.

"So how come when Katherine calls us by our full names it feels like home, but when she calls us by our nicknames, it feels like nails on a chalkboard, and that we are in so much more trouble than we ever were with Master Splinter?" Michelangelo asked.

His brothers just shook their heads.

"I regret that." Raphael said shaking his head.

"We all regret our actions Raph." Leonardo said to him.

"No Leo. I regret wishing that Katherine lose that cool, calm, control of hers, because Kathrine not controlled, is scary as Hell." Raphael mumbled.

Leonardo looked at the doorway where Katherine had strode through, and nodded.

Donatello was looking and them all and frowning. "Why haven't you two been touching her?" Donatello asked slowly as if his mind were working on a problem.

Leonardo and Raphael looked at each other. Raphael answered. "It's the only way we wouldn't kill each other. That, and we aren't sure if Kitten would actually want us to touch her, or hug her or kiss her." Raphael said crossing his arms over his chest.

Donatello looked at them grimly. "Did you ever think that maybe the fact that both of you have backed off has made her feel as if she is now...not wanted? Have either of you actually asked her what happened to her over the 7 days she was held?"

They exchanged a look. "We didn't want to push her Donny." Leonardo said defensively.

"Have you talked to her Mikey?" Donatello asked him.

He shook his head. "I didn't want to push her either. She wakes up every couple hours every night screaming Donny. The last thing I wanted to do was make her relive that."

"So we have no actual idea the type of trauma she has actually endured because we have been too scared to ask?" Donatello questioned.

"So one of us has to go and talk to her?" Michelangelo asked with a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"I vote Mikey." Raphael said.

"What!" He protested. "She's mad. Like really scary mad right now. You or Leo should do it. You're her boyfriend Raph, you do it."

"Leo so kindly pointed out that I am her ex-boyfriend. That makes me talkin' to her worse. Same with Leo. She trusts you Mikey, has confided in you, and she knows you don't want anything from her." Raphael said to him.

Michelangelo's shoulder slumped in defeat. He slowly made his way upstairs and knocked on Katherine's door. A lump had formed in his throat, his palms were sweating, and a sick feeling rolled around in his stomach.

There was no answer so he gently opened the door hoping that she wasn't going to yell at him.

She was laying on her bed, phone lying beside her on the bed. "So they chose you to be the lamb to the slaughter?" She said as she looked at him.

He swallowed. He entered the room, gently closing the door behind him.

"Smart. If Raphael or Leonardo had come in, I probably would have thrown something at them, so I suppose they made a good choice." She grumbled.

"How are you feeling?" He asked as he climbed onto the bed. He sat down cross legged beside her.

"Physically or mentally?" She asked him.

"Both?" He asked in return.

She sighed. "What do you want to say or ask Michelangelo?"

"I've never seen you this angry Kitten." He said softly. "Even when Raph and Leo were fighting you weren't this angry."

"Yes I was Michelangelo." She looked at him, then and sat up. "I'm not burying or repressing my emotions right now." She said softly. "I can't, not right now. Everything is still too fresh, too vivid. So I am letting myself be uncontrolled. Besides, could you imagine what I would be like if I was acting my usual emotionally calm self. All of you would be even worse than you are now."

Michelangelo realized that she was right. If she acted the way she usually did, Donny would pronounce her to be emotionally and mentally damaged in some way. Because no one should walk away from what happened to her and act fine.

"What happened Kitten?" He asked gently.

She flicked a glance at him and turned away. "I didn't give them what they wanted Michelangelo. So, they burnt me with cigarettes, sliced my back up with a knife, played evil dunk tank, beat me, starved me, and locked me in the cold garage during the nights with three guards and Hun. It could have been worse Michelangelo. So, so much worse. Hun sat guard to make sure that the guards didn't try to force themselves on me. So I suppose for that I am grateful to him. Though, I think it was more he was disgusted with the idea of me actually having been with any of you, than any sense of anything for me." She looked at her phone. "I'll get better Michelangelo." She said softly.

"I know Kitten." He said as he pulled her into him. He was very careful, very gentle. He gave her the chance to be able to pull away if she needed to, but she didn't flinch or pull away. She buried herself into him and he clutched her as hard as he dared. "Leo and Raph are blame themselves, which I can't do anything about, but they think that you hate them. And they can't bring thenselves to touch you, because they will literally kill each other if one or the other does." He said to her softly.

She gave a nod and pulled away from him slightly. "Thank you." She whispered. "I need to call my mom back." She said indicating that she wanted to be alone.

Michelangelo nodded let her go and sliding off the bed.

He walked from the room and went to talk with his two idiot brothers.

* * *

><p><strong>Phew long chapter! Anyway next chapter should be the last one=)<strong>

**thoughts? opinions of this chapter? (I know it was a little heavy)**


	28. Chapter 28

**I apologize for the wait, I re-wrote this chapter a few times so it took a little longer for me to post it.**** (I had problems deciding how I was going to end it) **

**And there were so many loose ends I had to tie up. Hopefully I got them all, but this meant it is a really long chapter.**

**Final chapter, though there willl be an epiloge I think. At least if everyone wants one.=)**

**Aslo a big giant thank you to Rocky181, D'Fuentes, Moonie016, mela989898, Kaaayyytteee, and Chibiwolf33 for our reviews and support.**

**I hope everyone enjoys!**

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 28<span>

**Katherine** picked up the phone and dialled her mother back.

"Hello?" Her mother answered.

"Hey mom." She said into the phone.

"Are you okay?" Her mother asked with concern.

"Better." She said with a slight smile.

"I've never heard you so angry Katherine. Those boys of yours must be good for you." Her mother said happily. "Did you have a lover's quarrel sweetheart?" Her mother asked.

"Something like that." She said noncommittally.

"Finally got tired of sharing?" Her mother asked.

"Can I ask you something mom, something very serious?" She said ignoring the question.

"Sure dear, anything." Her mother replied.

"Remember how you said you dated twins?" She asked her mother.

"Yes...that was a very long time ago." Her mother answered.

"Well, what happened?" She asked.

Her mother paused before answering. "Well dear, it started out as a lark, something to get my parents upset. In my day it wasn't unusual to date many men at once, of course it was usually never serious."

"So like Betty and Veronica both dating Archie."

He mother paused and then answered. "Yes, I suppose so." She said. "But having two serious boyfriends, well, that was scandalous."

"So you were doing it to freak out grandma and grandpa? Does that mean you never loved them?" She asked.

"Of course I did." Her mother answered. "There are always different types if love dear. Sometimes love can be soft and gentle, sometimes it can be passionate and all consuming, sometimes it is hard to separate love from lust. But one love is not any stronger or more real than any other love. Love is very complicated sweetheart."

"I know." She said softly.

"Are you in love Katherine?" Her mother asked softly.

"Yes." She answered simply.

Her mother laughed. "That reminds me, remember how I said I may have some exciting news and a surprise?" Her mother asked happily.

"Yeeesss." She said drawing out the word.

"I got the part!" Her mother said gleefully.

"Part?" She asked in confusion.

"Well, it is only a small role in a TV series, but I am very excited. Now I know what you are going to say..."

"Pretty sure you don't." She interrupted

"Something about acting sucking away my soul."

"Mom, you know what it was like..." She began.

"I know dear, but I love acting, I always have."

Katherine blew out a breath. "If it makes you happy mom." She grumbled. She knew her mother loved acting, but she gave up acting after her father and brother were killed, which meant that her mother _really_ wanted to do this.

"I start filming in a few days. Just thought I would let you know." Her mother sounded excited. "But I have to go dear, love you, bye!" Her mother hung up the phone. She stared at the phone an odd feeling washing over her.

She sighed and threw the phone back on the bed.

So the question now was:_ What did she do?_ She asked herself. Which was strange because she already knew the answer.

She slid from the bed and went to find Raphael and Leonardo.

She quietly walked through the silent house. She stopped and closed her eyes as she breathed slowly in and out as panic began to trip and dance along her skin. The quiet bothered her. Quiet meant she was alone. But she wasn't alone. She opened her eyes as she heard voices coming from outside. She walked towards the sound.

"April and Casey are going to be here today sometime. I should have thought to call them earlier." Donatello was telling his brothers.

She opened the back door. Raphael was chopping wood; Leonardo was kneeling on the ground throwing bits and pieces of burnable refuse on the fire they had built; Michelangelo was raking up some leaves, and Donatello looked as if he was taking a quick break from tinkering with her uncle's 'junker car'.

Her uncle had loved going around town in that car. That way when he came out to this house, which he had always thought of as his 'cabin' (she disagreed, it was a house), he would be able to blend in and no one would bother him.

She looked around the yard. Her 'grave' was gone, and the outside of the house was pretty clean. Michelangelo had grumbled about having to pull all of the arrows out of the side and front of the house. He had said it was like pulling the quills out of a porcupine. The inside was about as clean as it could get. It still needed to be painted to get rid of all the graffiti, but holes had been patched up, broken glass swept up and load after load of laundry had been done.

She looked at where Hun's body had been and shuddered a little. There was no evidence of him ever being there.

They all stopped what they were doing and looked at her. "Leonardo, Raphael, we need to talk." She said to them.

They shared a look and Raphael put the axe in the log, while Leonardo stood up from his crouched and Donatello shared a grim look.

She turned and led the way back into the house and into the library. Both Leonardo and Raphael were silent on the way into the room. She sat on the top of the desk as both Raphael and Leonardo declined to sit and instead both stood in front of her. Raphael had crossed his arms over his chest, while Leonardo went to do the same, but winced in pain as his own wound in his arm pulled at the movement.

She closed her eyes against the image that sprang forth in her mind of the injury that lay under the sleeve of his shirt.

She had almost been too late. He had almost died. A wave of sickening guilt washed over her. She opened her eyes and looked at them each in turn. Leonardo's face was a blank mask. He attempted to control his emotions, but she could see the tightness around his mouth and eyes as he worried and feared over what she was going to say.

Raphael of course never bothered with holding in his emotions. He was already halfway to angry, which was his normal emotional level anyway.

She took a deep breath. "I don't want either of you going out, Donatello or Michelangelo either, and going after the Purple Dragons." She began softly.

They looked at her in shock, obviously thinking that she wanted to talk about the state of their very messed up relationship. And she would get to that, but at the moment, she was getting this fight out of the way first.

"What!" Raphael exclaimed in surprise, which quickly turned to indignant anger. "There is no way we are letting them get away with what they did to you! They are dead! Every single last one of them!" He yelled.

"No." She said shaking her head.

Raphael uncrossed his arms, stalked up to her and got in her face. "You don't get a say in this Kitten. They are thieves, drug dealers, murderers and worse." He growled, his voice going low, which meant he was so angry he was past yelling.

She looked into his rage filled honey brown eyes. His powerful body tensed, ready to fight, rend, and kill. And right now, all of that anger was aimed at her. But she was not bothered by it in the least.

Her own eyes narrowed. "There were 15 men here. You don't think I couldn't have killed each and every single one of them if I had wanted to?" She asked him.

"No." Leonardo replied. "You aren't a murderer Katherine. You wouldn't have killed them." He said softly.

"Except I am a murderer since I killed Hun." She pointed out.

Raphael and Leonardo exchanged a glance. "You had no choice Kitten, you were savin' Leo's life." Raphael said ridding his voice of some of his anger.

"There is always a choice Raphael, I chose one life over another. It may have been justifiable, but it still makes me a murderer. As for what they did to me, there were only two men who tortured me. Hun and Frank. Hun is dead, and Frank will probably end on the streets, or wind up in a mental institution mumbling about ghosts and revenge. Some of the gang members were unaware of what was happening to me, others were aware but did nothing." She explained to them.

"So they all pay." Raphael growled.

"It isn't your call Raphael, it is mine. And I say there has been enough blood spilled." She said angrily.

"Katherine we can't just..." Leonardo began.

She closed her eyes. "I don't want you to die for the sake of revenge." She said softly, cutting Leonardo off. She opened her eyes and looked at them. "They can all go rot somewhere for all I care, but I won't have you running all over New York, tracking them down, and getting yourselves killed because of some sort of need for revenge. I could have got revenge, but I chose to let them live with what they did to me. Let them live with their actions, because for them, death is to swift, too easy, and too kind." She said looking at both of them in turn. "So I am asking you, please don't." Leonardo and Raphael exchanged an uncomfortable glance. "Promise me." She insisted when both remained silent.

Raphael looked away and down, fingering in sais in irritation. Leonardo too shifted his eyes away, his fingers twitching as if wanting to go for the swords strapped to his back.

"Okay Katherine." Leonardo said finally with a nod.

Raphael shot a surprised look to Leonardo before finally answering. "Fine." He huffed out crossing his arms angrily over his chest. "We done here?" He asked with irritation.

"You know we aren't." She said to him softly.

Raphael's irritation changed to fear, which kick started anger. He glowered at her.

Leonardo tried to hide his trepidation, but his fingers twitched again, as if he wanted to shield himself, but was unsure if he needed to shield himself from what she was about to say.

"Raphael do you still love me?" She asked him because he had never actually told her that he did.

Her question surprised him, his eyes narrowing as if trying to understand where her mind was going. "So if I say yes, then what?" He asked her.

"I'll just take that as a yes." She said with a shake of her head.

"Leonardo?" She asked him.

His eyes flicked to Raphael and back to her. "You know I do." He replied softly.

She nodded turning her attention back to Raphael. "You left me Raphael, without even an explanation." She accused him softly.

Raphael paled slightly. "You know why I left." He growled.

"It doesn't matter, you just walked away, do you have any idea how much that hurt?" She asked him, her voice wavering.

"I'm sorry okay! You have no idea how much I regret walking away from you! If I hadn't..."

"Don't bring up the consequences of you leaving," She said sutting him off. "That isn't the issue. The issue is that you left without a single word." She said angrily. "And don't you dare try sneaking out of here Leonardo."

"You two need to talk." Leonardo said softly.

"I'm not done talking to you yet." She said, her eyes flicking to him. "We all have to talk, so we are getting everything out in the open." She turned her full attention to Leoanrdo. "Leonardo, you tried to break Raphael and I up because you wanted me to break up with Raphael. You actively tried to sabotage our relationship."

Leonardo winced.

"So I am not happy with either of you at the moment. I may love you both, but I can't choose between a man who left me when he finally remembered who he was, and a man who tried to make me fall in love with him. Do you see how very wrong and messed up this is?" She asked them.

"You want to get things out in the open Kitten?" Raphael growled. "How bout you not tellin us that you were some rich chick whose paintings sell for millions of dollars, and whose mother was a hot pin-up model actress!" He accused angrily. "You lied."

Her eyes narrowed. "I never lied to you, not once." She said defensively. "For one, my mom is my mom, period. I don't think of her as a former hot, pin-up model actress. For two I have never sold a painting in my life. If my paintings actually sell, it will be amazing. For three, I am not a rich chick."

"You are a freakin heiress whose mom was a famous actress, who probably pulls in loads of money from designin clothes!"

"Raph." Leoanrdo warned.

"No Leo, it's true!" Raphael said looking at his brother.

Leonardo thought about it for a second and nodded. "He has a point Katherine."

Katherine shook her head. "What I would like to know is how does my mother and Uncle having money translate to me having money?" She asked, her voice low and smooth.

"I don't know, trust funds, being in a will for a billionaire."

Katherine sighed and rubbed her temples. She was already tired of the conversation. It was the same conversation she had with too many people. "I worked three jobs to put myself through school this year." She said to them. "My mother didn't work for a long time after the accident. I will assume you know of the accident since you know who my mother is. As for any money she has now, it is tied up in stocks and shares in her design company. My stepfather also believes in hard work and making something of yourself instead of having everything handed to you on a silver platter. I have some money from my father, but it is unavailable until I turn 25. How much, I have no idea, my father didn't come from money. And my Uncle's billions are still _his. _My Uncle could also change his mind and leave all his money to his cat or the museum, or something. My point is, that I am not going to sit around and wait for my uncle to die on the off chance that he did in fact leave me tons of money." She said shaking her head. "So I'm not just some rich chick, living the easy life." Her voice wavered in anger.

"I never thought you were _just_ some rich chick!" Raphael replied, anger still thick in his voice.

"What do you want from us Katherine?" Leonardo interupted gently.

She shifted her focus from Raphael to Leonardo. She let out a puff of breath. "I can't choose." She said seriously.

Raphael and Leonardo exchanged a confused looked. "So...What?" Raphael asked in confusion.

"I know Rogue, I love Rogue, but Rogue is gone, so I want to get to know Raphael." She said to him seriously. Raphael straightened slightly. "And I would like to get to know Leonardo, the real Leonardo, not the Leonardo who is trying to say all the right things and be perfect." She said to him."Do you understand?" She asked them.

"Let me get this straight, you want us to...share?" Raphael asked incredulous.

Katherine tipped her head to the side in thought. "I suppose so." She said thoughtfully. "I want to be Archie." She said to them.

Leonardo looked at her in confusion. "I don't understand."

"I want to be Archie, you two can be Betty and Veronica. You can choose whoever you want to be, but that is my choice."

"Katherine we can't share you." Leonardo said shaking his head.

Katherine slid off the desk. "Why not?"

"Why not?" Raphael asked in shock. "Because if I even see Leo touch you, I will kill him, that's why!"

She sighed. "I'm sorry." She said shaking her head and sliding off the desk. She walked towards the door.

"You're sorry? What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Raphael yelled.

Katherine opened the door, Michelangelo and Donatello tumbled into the room. Michelangelo fell flat on his face, while Donatello stumbled, but managed to right himself.

She stepped over Michelangelo and walked past Donatello. Raphael and Leonardo following on her heels as she walked down the hall. "It means, that is the only answer I can give you right now." She said as Raphael reached out and grabbed her arm halting her progress.

"You need to make a choice Kitten, it's either me or Leo, you don't get both." He growled.

"Katherine." Leonardo began. "I made a promise, to you and myself. I promised that I would never leave your side, unless you want me to. So even if you choose Raph, I won't leave." He said softly.

She shook her head. She walked over to Leonardo and pulled him close burying her face in his neck.

"You don't understand." She whispered into his neck. They didn't understand because it hurt her to admit what she was about to say. She had said it to Donatello, but she had flippantly said it, not really wanting to admit it to herself. But now, she could admit it to herself, even though it hurt her to do this, but not as much as it would hurt them to hear it. She opened her moth to tell them that she was broken. That she hated waking up screaming in the middle of the night because all she could see was the gun levelled at Leonardo, his blood everywhere, because she had been too late, she had hesitated, or she had missed the shot. She hated waking up screaming because she watched Raphael walk away, and knew what was coming next. Of course she didn't blame Raphael for leaving or for what happened after, but that didn't mean she never asked herself : _What if? What if he hadn't left?_ All she wanted was for the dreams to stop, and she knew they would eventually. But she knew she wouldn't be able to get past the dreams if both of them weren't there, with her, holding her, and comforting her.

"I do understand Katherine." Leonardo said softly. She looked up at him in shock. "I'm sorry for what I did." He said as he swept a piece of hair behind her ear. "I never should have interfered in yours and Raph's relationship. But you're right, you need to get to know Raph. I'll still be here Katherine. I won't leave, I promise." His voice wavered slightly, the smile on his face brittle and full of misery. "Be with Raph, you loved him first." He pulled away from her then, turned and walked past a stunned Michelangelo and Donatello.

Katherine watched him walk away and felt as if her heart was going to break. Again. He didn't understand, he didn't know. She wanted to reach out her hand and stop him, call him back, but her arm didn't move because she knew Leonardo, and knew he would not turn around.

* * *

><p><strong>Raphael's<strong> mouth dropped open in shock as he watched Leonardo walk away. He looked at Katherine who was watching Leonardo walk away. He walked up to her and pulled her into his arms. She didn't pull away, just buried her face into his neck, clinging to him tightly. "Do you love me Katherine?" He whispered to her.

If she said no, if she said it was Leo that she wanted, he would let her go.

"I love you Raphael." She whispered back. She pulled away and looked at him, "But I still love him too."

"I know." He whispered as he leaned down and kissed her. He pulled away and looked at her in the eyes. "I love you Katherine." He said softly as he brushed both of her cheeks with his thumbs. He just had to convince her that she loved him more than she loved his brother, because he needed her. He needed her because she didn't make him feel like a monster. She looked at him like a man, and she never was frightened by him, even when he lost his temper. He knew he could tell her about all of the horrible things he had done, and she would never think less of him or judge him in any way.

He kissed her again as she clung to him and he wasn't really sure if he was supporting her or if she was supporting him, but it felt like both.

* * *

><p><strong>Leonardo<strong> walked away. His heart couldn't take much more. He couldn't breathe through the grief that choked him. He needed to get away as fast as he could.

He had told Raphael that he would fight for her, and he would, except he found that the possibility of her rejecting him was too much for him to bear. He would rather walk away from her and break his own heart, than have her break it for him. He wasn't walking away really. He would still be here, because he had promised. She just needed to spend time with Raphael, realize that she loved Raphael more, and she would send him away. Raphael could protect her.

He found himself sitting on the dock overlooking the lake. He wasn't sure how long he sat there, but eventually Michelangelo sat down beside him.

"You're an idiot, you know that, don't you?" Michelangelo informed him.

He flicked a glance at his brother. "I made things right Mikey." He said to him. "You told me to either pursue her or walk away, so I walked away."

Michelangelo shook his head. "She may have chose you Leo." Michelangelo told him.

"Doesn't matter Mikey." He replied softly.

Michelangelo stood and looked down at him. "It matters Leo."

"You never saw her face Mikey. She's been through too much. Having Raph and me fight over her is the last thing she needs right now."

Michelangelo blew out a breath. "No, she needs you both right now, and you are walking away."

"I'm still here Mikey." He said looking at his brother.

"Yeah, but not in the way she needs you to be." He said as he began to walk away. "By the way," He threw over his shoulder. "April and Casey are here. They've asked Kitten to be a godmother."

He looked at Michelangelo in surprise. "Who's the godfather?"

"We all are. Unofficially of course." Michelangelo said as he walked away.

Leonardo watched his brother's retreating back, his heart twisting into a pain filled knot. He turned back and studied the calmness of the lake, trying to stop loving the only woman he knew he could ever love.

* * *

><p><strong>Raphael<strong> paced back and forth, Donatello's eyes following him. "I don't know what to do Donny." Raphael ground out.

"There isn't anything you can do Raph." Donatello said with a shake of his head.

"It's been a month Donny, a month, and she isn't getting any better, if anything, she's getting worse. Her nightmares were a few times a night, now they are several times a night. She barely sleeps anymore. She's so tired I'm surprised she's even functioning." Raphael said with anguish in his voice.

Donatello blew out a breath. "Raph, she was held, tortured and nearly killed. Considering all of the physical and mental trauma she suffered, she has recovered from the ordeal remarkably well." He said in a calm voice.

Raphael shook his head in frustration. "It's not good enough Donny. Every time I look at her and see the dark circles under her eyes, every time that I hold her in my arms when she wakes up screaming, I know that I did that to her."

Donatello frowned in thought. "What are her nightmares about Raph?" Donatello asked him gently.

Raphael stopped pacing and sat down on the hood of Katherine's uncle's car. "She dreams that Leo's dead. That she wasn't able to kill Hun before he kills Leo. She dreams of me leavin' her over and over, and knowing that because I left, Hun was able to get to her."

"You realize that her nightmares have to do with you and Leo right?" Donatello asked him.

Raphael frowned in confusion. "What are you gettin' at Donny?"

Donatello looked at him seriously. "Her dreams are basically focused upon losing both of you. Leo to death and you to just walking away. She wakes up every night because she thinks she's lost one of you." He said to him. "Obviously the torture that happened to her is mixed in there as well, but she doesn't seem to ever dream that she broke under the torture and that we all died because she betrayed us to Hun."

"So what's that mean?" Raphael asked in frustration.

"It means that she needs both you and Leo to recover." He said with a shrug.

"She's got us both. Leo's still here, he never left." Raphael pointed out.

"You know that isn't true Raph." Donatello said softly.

Raphael crossed his arms over his chest angrily. "So what? What do you want me to do Donny? I can't _make_ Leo spend more time with her. I can't _make _him stop acting like a damn shadow."

Donatello looked at him seriously. "Katherine already told you what she needed Raph. You two idiots just decided to not listen to her."

"She wanted us to share Donny. I ain't sharin' her. I can't." He said angrily.

"Raph, this is more than just her being in love with both of you, this is about being able to heal. To know that when she wakes up, that both of you are still here. That she isn't still being held by Hun and his goons, that she isn't just dreaming. She needs to feel safe Raph, and she needs you both to feel safe, because she is at her most vulnerable when she is sleeping. She was sleeping fine until you two decided to stop sleeping beside her, when you were unsure if she even loved you still. And even though you are with her every night it isn't the same." He paused and continued. "Have you ever asked her when Hun and his gang caught and captured her? I would bet it was a night when she was sound asleep, probably sometime after she spent the previous several hours crying her eyes out because you broke her heart!" Donatello sais to him harshly.

"I can't share her Donny." He whispered as guilt tore through him.

"Then why are you here Raph?" Donatello asked him.

Raphael slid off the hood of the car. He took one last angry look at his brother and stomped off.

He walked over to the tree where Katherine's 'grave' had stood. It was her favourite tree to curl up under. He placed his palm on the rough bark. Though he didn't think she had been near it since they had removed the cross. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that Katherine's personality had changed more than he thought it had. She had always been a daydreamer, now he didn't think she sat still long enough to do so. She had liked being alone, and now she was always in the company of someone. Though she was alone at the moment showering and getting ready for bed. She had probably thought it was odd that he hadn't joined her like he usually did, but he had wanted to talk to Donatello. Which had been a waste of time.

He drew back his fist in anger and punched the tree. He cursed and shook his hand out. He went in search of Leonardo.

He finally found his brother sitting on the dock, staring out over the lake. He was dressed in jeans, a dark blue hoodie and a light brown jacket.

His brother looked up as he approached. It was dark, the moon reflecting upon the surface of the calm lake.

He sat down beside his brother and studied him. Leonardo looked like hell. There were dark circles under his eyes as if he hadn't been sleeping either. He was also thinner. Raphael realized then that Leonardo didn't do much more than pick at his food and spread it around on his plate.

He let out a puff of breath. "Katherine needs you Leo." He said to his bother. Leonardo didn't avoid Katherine and himself. He was around, but as far as he could tell, Leonardo had pretty much almost completely stopped talking with Katherine, and to a lesser extent, himself. He felt as if Leonardo had become more acquaintance than brother.

"I'm still here Raph." His brother replied softly, a hint of irritation in his voice.

"She's getting worse Leo." He said to his brother.

"I know." Leonardo replied tersely.

"Her fear filled voice cries out your name in the middle of the night as much as she calls out mine."

"I know." He said softly.

"She needs you to stop treating her like she is some feudal princess and you are her ninja guardian. She needs you Leo!"

"I'm trying Raph, okay, I'm trying!" He said his voice breaking in anguish.

"You still love her Leo?" He asked his brother quietly, even though he already knew the answer.

His brother was silent, giving him all the answer he needed. "If you love her, then you need to be with her." He said, nearly choking on the words.

"Why, because she's broken and you don't want her anymore?" His brother accused harshly.

"No Leo, because she needs us both." He said softly.

His brother's face lost its anger which was replaced by confusion. "What are you saying Raph?"

"She needs us both. She needs to get better. Instead of helping her get better we just assumed that she would be fine if given enough time and if we weren't fighting over her. Instead, we made things worse."

Leonardo slowly stood. "Are you saying...?" His brother left the sentence to hang unfinished in the air between them.

He looked away from his brother and closed his eyes. He gave a curt nod of acknowledgement.

He opened his eyes and looked at his brother. His brother hadn't moved.

"I can't be with her and not touch her Raph." His brother replied softly. "It would be as bad as living in the hell I am right now."

"I know." He said softly. "I don't like it Leo, I hate it with every fibre of my being, but if it helps her, I'll share her." He growled. His brother studied him. "What do you want a friggin invitation? Go to her Leo, I'll be there in about an hour or so. You can explain to her what's going on."

Leonardo slowly nodded and walked towards the house. Raphael put his head in his hands as he tried to push down the jealously that clawed through him.

* * *

><p><strong>Leonardo<strong> slowly entered Katherine's bedroom. Katherine walked out of the bathroom towelling down her damp hair. She was wearing a towel wrapped haphazardly around her body. She stopped by the bed and looked at him in shock. "Leonardo?" She asked in confusion.

She searched the room as if looking for Raphael and not finding him looked even more confused.

Leonardo didn't even know what to say_. How did he even begin the conversation that needed to be said?_ He asked himself as he strode up to her, grabbing her, and pulling her close. He buried his face in her hair and neck. The soft scent of flowers drifting through his senses. She clung to him pulling him as close as she could. "I need you Katherine." He whispered to her. And he did. He needed her, because he felt as if his world and his life was filled with nothing but misery and loneliness without her.

He knew that Katherine was _it _for him, she was _the one_. Even if it was possible for him to meet another woman, he would never love her as much as he loved Katherine. And he had tried hard to move on, to stop loving her, to not feel ill at the thought of Raphael taking her in his arms and being able to love her and be with her. But no matter how hard he tried, he still loved her just as much, if not more, than when he had first realized that he was in love with her.

Katherine pulled away and searched his face in confusion. "What are you...?" She questioned.

"You need us both Katherine." He whispered softly stroking her cheek. "I'm sorry that I never understood that you needed us both. We were the ones that gave you the strength not to break. And when we came back, we were breaking the only thing that helped you cope and made you strong enough to survive, and that was your love for both of us."

Her eyes filled with tears. "I'm sorry I'm broken. I am so, so sorry. I don't want to do this to you or Raphael. It isn't fair, I should be able to choose between you and..."

He silenced her with a finger on her lips. He brushed her soft lips with his finger as she looked at him wide eyed, lips slightly parted.

"He understands. And if you need us both, then you will have us both Katherine." He said as he leaned in and kissed her. Kissing her was everything he remembered it being and more, better, because he _could _kiss her.

He lifted her up in his arms and walked to the bed. He lay her down gently. "What are you doing?:" She asked him in confusion.

"Something I have wanted to do since I held my katana to your throat." He said as he kissed her again with all of the love and passion that he had tried and failed to suppress.

* * *

><p><strong>Michelangelo<strong> glared at the door across the hall from where he was trying to sleep. He was tired and he just wanted to get some sleep, but Raphael and Katherine were making too much noise. And it wasn't like this was the first time that Raphael and Katherine had kept him up, and he was getting sick of it. The nightmares he understood, but this, he knew they could be more quiet than they were being. He waited until the noises finally died down.

He turned the door handle to Katherine's room, determined to have a chat about keeping the noise level down. He opened the door and strode in. The light from the hallway hit his brother's blue mask.

"Mikey?" Leonardo asked in confusion.

Michelangelo pulled the door shut as fast as he could. "No,no." He said shaking his head in denial. Leonardo hadn't...but he had. "Oh God." He said as he clutched at his head. "This is bad, so, so bad." He said as he stared at the door of Katherine's room. Leonardo was with Katherine. In bed. Naked.

"What's bad Mikey?" Raphael asked him.

He jumped and screamed like a little girl. " YOu scared me Raph." He said as he thought furiously. "I don't have a second player to help me beat Raiders 4." He said in a shaky voice as he lied to his brother's face. Guilt flowing through him.

"Well, good luck with that Mikey." Raphael said patting him on the shoulder. He turned and placed his hand on the door handle to Katherine's room.

"Come on Raph, you can even be Danarius." He said coaxingly as he tried to prevent the murder that was about to take place.

"I'm beat Mikey, maybe tomorrow." He said turning the knob.

He blocked his brother by standing in the doorway. "Please?" He pleaded desperately.

"No." Raphael said as he pushed him out of the way, opening the door, and closing it gently behind him.

Michelangelo looked down the hall in panic. He ran across the hall and looked for his nunchucks. He would stop his brothers from killing each other.

He dashed from his room and gathered his courage. He was going to have to fight both of his brothers, but the silence of the room across the hall was making him think that he was already too late. He burst through the door, not knowing what he was going to find, but fearing that there would already have been blood spilled.

The light hit Leonardo's face. His eyes were closed and he was laying on his side, Katherine's arm over his chest.

Leonardo opened his eyes and looked at him. Katherine's looked over Leoanrdo's shoulder in confusion.

Raphael's head rose up next to Katherine's. "Go to bed Mikey." Raphael growled, laying back down.

Michelangelo backed out of the room in shock, closing the door gently. He grinned and walked back to his room.

* * *

><p><strong>Katherine<strong> was pulled closer into Raphael's body. "Hey Leo, go get some pants on, and then get out." Raphael growled.

Leonardo yawned. "You first Raph." Leonardo said as he snuggled further into her side.

"You are really going to piss me off Leo." Raphael grumbled.

Leonardo made an unintelligable noise.

"Fine, but I get to be Betty" Raphael said to him.

"Huh?" Leonardo asked in confusion.

"Everyone knows that Betty and Archie are made for each other. Archie's just too blind to see it."

"Maybe I want to be Betty." Leonardo said softly.

"I called dibs first." Raphael said smugly.

"You can both be Betty. Now go to sleep." Katherine admonished as she snuggled in closer to both Leonardo and Raphael.

She relaxed into sleep as both Raphael and Leonardo continued to bicker softly beside her. She smiled and for the first time in a month, fell into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

><p><strong>Probably not the ending everyone expected or wanted...but I tossed it around in my head and decided this worked the best.<strong>

**Thoughts, opinions? Curious about the epiloge?**


	29. Epilogue

**I am so sorry it took so long to put this up. I blame finishing my other fic, being sick with a nasty cold and messing up my knee. Anyway, here is is! **

**I decided I am going to do a sequel to this story, so it is more of a epilogue/hint at what will be in the sequel. **

**And a big thank you to my reviewers Chibiwolf33, Mela989898, moonie016, D'Fuentes, Kaaayyytteee, Rocky181 and Outasync.**

* * *

><p><span>Epilogue<span>

**Raphael** glared at Katherine. "You two just need to play nice, for once. Is that too much to ask?" Katherine questioned both himself and Leonardo.

Raphael crossed his arms over his chest in anger. Leonardo was leaning against Katherine's uncle's desk, a frown on his face.

"Yes." Raphael replied at the same time Leonardo replied "No."

Katherine rubbed her temples. "I am trying to make Thanksgiving dinner here. My first American Thanksgiving at that, since I missed my family's Thanksgiving in October. I have never cooked a turkey in my life, so I need for you two to try to get along and stop getting in my way." She growled.

"We're sick of it Kitten, okay. We are done!" Raphael growled.

"Raph..." Leonardo began.

"No Leo. The nightmares have stopped, it's been over a month, I am tired of sharing. I want her to pick between us...now!"

"You really want to go there Raphael? Right now?" Katherine asked in a low angry voice.

"Yes." Raphael said, angrily getting in her face.

"You know what, I think maybe I'll pick Michelangelo, or Donatello, because I am sick and tired of you two fighting." She said as she angrily got in Raphael's face. "And it seems to me that it is usually you who is always starting the fights Raphael. You are the one who decided I could share you both, so why the problem now?"

"Because I am sick and tired of sharing you!" He yelled. "I want it to be just you and me!"

"Raph..." Leonardo warned.

Raphael ignored his brother and continued his thought. "I didn't think that I would be stuck sharing you for a whole damn month!" He continued angrily.

Leonardo winced.

Katherine paled. "I'm sorry that me recovering from being tortured and nearly killed has taken two whole long months Raphael." She said in a controlled angry, hurt laced voice.

Raphael felt himself pale as he realized what he had said. He tried to control his temper. "Kitten, that's not..." He began, his voice wavering as he fought his anger, guilt leaking into his voice.

"Fine, if that is the way you both feel, then I don't need either of you anymore." She said her voice wavering as she dashed away frustrated tears. "Now if you two will excuse me, Casey, April and Shadow are going to be here in a few minutes, and there are potatoes to mash, gravy to make, a turkey to baste, vegetables to steam, and two pies that need to come out of the oven." Katherine turned and angrily strode from the room.

"Wait. Did she just break up with us?" Raphael asked in confusion.

His brother glared at him. "What did you expect?" Leonardo asked him shaking his head. He pinched the bridge between his eyes. "A whole month? I would say that I can't believe you just said that, only I know you and your damn temper." Leonardo said a flare of anger entering his voice.

"I can't help it Leo!" He said angrily. "I'm tired of wakin' up with you plastered on the other side of her. I am tired of seeing your naked ass, and I hate having to take turns with her!" He said in frustration. He blinked as his brother looked back at him calmly. It suddenly hit him. "You really don't care." He said in shock. "How can you not care! How can you not want her to choose!" He asked in confusion.

"I love her Raph." He said simply. "And besides, what would you do if she chose me?" He questioned his brother.

His eyes narrowed. "She loved me first Leo." He growled.

"Then if she was so in love with you, then why was she able to fall in love with me?" His brother asked him softly.

He felt as if he had been slapped. He felt himself pale as the very real possibility entered his head that the woman he loved, actually love his brother more.

"Then if she is going to choose you, why ain't you fightin' for her Leo?" He asked angrily.

His brother closed his eyes and sighed. "Just because her nightmares have stopped, doesn't mean that she is all 'fixed' now Raph. It could take years for her to work through the trauma. She will be ready when she is ready, not when we _want_ her to be ready." His brother paused and then continued. "Raph, you love her. She makes you happy. For her, you try to be a better person. She is_ good_ for you. I don't know if she'd choose me, she might choose you, but if she did choose me, I know it would break your heart and probably her heart, and I don't ever want to see that happen."

Raphael glared at his brother. "Save your pity for someone else Leo." He growled.

His brother pushed himself away from the desk. "Raph, she still needs us, and if I have to share her for the rest of my life I will, because I can't leave her. For me, she is It Raph. She is The One. If she finally decides she is ready and can live with just one of us, then I accept that and I will accept her decision, but until then, I am not going to push her and break her." His brother said, a hint of anger entering his voice.

"You're an ass Leo." Raphael said as he ground his teeth together in anger. "Damn it!" He growled as he punched the moulding around the doorframe. He shook out his hand. He closed his eyes and looked away from his brother his shoulders slumping in defeat. "She's good for you Leo. When you aren't pissin' me off, I actually _like _you now." He grumbled. "You're my brother and I love you, but I've never really _liked_ you. She's even managed to pry that damn stick out of your ass. You smile more, you laugh, you joke." He sighed. "You don't lose your temper and say stupid things that upset and hurt her." He finished softly. He rubbed his eyes and looked at his brother. "You're right Leo. You deserve her. She _needs_ you, she doesn't need me." He smiled bitterly. "I've just been fooling myself." He took a deep breath, looking into his brother's shocked face. "Congratulations Leo, the better brother won.I know she'll take you back."

"Raph..." Leo said shaking his head.

"She doesn't need me Leo. She's never needed me. I'm an idiot okay. She has never needed to depend on me, or lean on me. I need her. I have always leaned on and depended on her. She doesn't need that kind of burden." His throat tightened. "I know you'll take good care of her Leo."

"Raph..." Leonardo said trying to stop him from leaving the library.

"Tell Kitten goodbye for me, and get Mikey or Donny to grab my stuff and bring it back to the lair for me." He said, voice wavering as he strode out of the room. He vaguely heard the doorbell ring.

"You don't get to run out on her again Raph." Leonardo hissed as he grabbed his shoulder, halting his progress.

He pulled away and strode blindly down the hall. Michelangelo ran down the hall . "Raph, Kitten needs you to mash potatoes, I need to grab the door." Michelangelo said.

Leonardo grabbed at his arm.

The doorbell rang again.

"Let me go Leo." He growled at his brother shaking him off.

"No." Leonardo growled back angrily.

"What is going on out here?" Katherine asked in frustration, a wooden spoon in one hand, Donatello following close behind her. "Are you two still...?"

Donatello managed to catch her before she fell.

Raphael rushed to her side, but Katherine was already pushing Donatello away. "I'm fine." She grumbled.

"You are not fine." Raphael growled.

"Yes, I am." She said angrily back. She looked tired and pale. "I just got a little dizzy that's all. It's been a long day alright?"

"I knew you should have gone to the hospital after what happened. Damn it Katherine, it's only been two months! Donny is not a doctor!" Raphael said angrily.

"Hey." Donatello protested.

"Sorry Donny it's true." He said with a shake of his head.

"And then they would have called the police." She countered.

Michelangelo opened the door letting April and Casey in. April was carrying a bouquet of flowers and had a diaper bag slung over her shoulder. Casey was carrying the car seat and a large black bag.

Katherine turned her attention away from him, pushing him out of the way. She smiled and reached out a hand for the bouquet and to give April a hug. "I'm so glad you guys could make it."

April looked a little flustered. "I didn't think we were ever going to make it here." She said truthfully. "Shadow had to eat and then be burped and then she needed her diaper changed, and we had to pack everything." April shook her head. "I knew babies were work, but not this much work. And they have so much stuff." She said with a tired smile. "Luckily she slept most of the way here."

As if on cue Shadow chose that moment to wake up, and she was not happy. Wailing ensued. Which kick started a panic in her parents as they all began to search for a soother.

"Kitten, I want you to sit down." Raphael said as he grabbed her arm attempting to pull her away from where his brothers were helping Casey and April.

Katherine glared at him. "I don't need to sit down Raphael. I will sit down at dinner. I am too busy right now." She said with a shake of her head.

"Don't make me drag Donny over here." He threatened.

Katherine shook her head. "What is your problem Raphael?" She asked angrily.

"My problem? My problem is that you are too damn stuborn! Why the hell do you have to be so damn suborn!" He yelled.

Shadow's crying was reaching ear shattering noise levels.

"Me, stubborn? Pot, kettle, black Raphael!"

"What!" Raphael yelled.

"You heard me. And stop yelling!" She said raising her voice.

"A baby crying, fighting and the smell of turkey in the air. It must be the holidays." A feminine voice said as Shadow's crying was cut off by a thankfully found soother.

The silence in the room was deafening as everyone turned and stared at the stunning woman standing in the doorway. She was older, mid-forties, but still breath taking. Her auburn hair was swept up beneath a wide brimmed white hat. She was wearing a white skit paired with a white blouse, a deep green purse in one hand, the doorknob in the other.

"Mom!" Katherine said in shock.

* * *

><p><strong>So what did everyone think? I know it isn't quite an ending, but I think the sequel may be fun.;)<strong>


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